BTW, can someone tell my why I would want to use the Dynamic VP? If I want everything to just output at 1080P, why do I need to set special circumstances?

BTW, can someone tell my why I would want to use the Dynamic VP? If I want everything to just output at 1080P, why do I need to set special circumstances?

It's mainly beneficial if you live in PAL land. You would want to change between 50 and 60hz output depending on if the source is NTSC or PAL.

BTW, can someone tell my why I would want to use the Dynamic VP? If I want everything to just output at 1080P, why do I need to set special circumstances?

Output dynamic vp, for example: changing output from 50 to 60 Hz depending on 50 or 60 Hz source (dvd player which plays PAL and NTSC) if your PJ or screen accepts both, great feature

I asked if you had the "input dynamic vp" on because that drove me nuts: evertytime the CII *thinks* "something" has changed it runs the little box in the middle of the screen and switching inputs takes a lot longer. But it seems you really have a defect unit....

Free, it is sounding more and more like you have a defective unit. I know it's a huge pain to exchange t but I definitely would consider it...

Output dynamic vp, for example: changing output from 50 to 60 Hz depending on 50 or 60 Hz source (dvd player which plays PAL and NTSC) if your PJ or screen accepts both, great feature

I asked if you had the "input dynamic vp" on because that drove me nuts: evertytime the CII *thinks* "something" has changed it runs the little box in the middle of the screen and switching inputs takes a lot longer. But it seems you really have a defect unit....
Hmm.. This would also be a concern to me as this is the equivalent of 50Hz lock 50 Hz and 60Hz lock 60Hz on the VP50 which is a feature I use all the time. There is no visible sign (or distress) when the VP50 does its thing when changing over from one to the other and it does it very quickly too. You can use your Oppo 971 (and the 970 too I believe) as a means of checking your VP's behaviour out on this by switching it between NTSC and PAL on the Remote P/N button with no disc in the machine. (Provided of course your display can accept and display both frame rates).

Once again I was reminded lastnite how good the firmware upgrade process is. Using the USB flashdrive with my laptop then bringing it to my crystalio II was such a conveinance. Also the fact it remembered every single setting I had. I am spoiled with this upgrade process. Not having to unhook everything makes it to easy! :eek:

yes - normally the back of my CII is hard to get to - so I've just installed 2 short USB extension leads which bring the sockets discreetly to another shelf in my rack.

I agree this USB is far better than needing a direct connection to a PC (a hassle to remove connections) or a website a la Tosh HD-DVD (too flakey).

The CD burning approach in my Oppo is also pretty good for me - I just have a CDRW specifically for the purpose.

OK, Just wanted to update you guy's. Turns out there is a bug in the Firmware. It has to do with HDMI audio. I was instructed by support, to go in and change the input audio, off of the current HDMI 2 input. This made a significant difference. The image drop outs are still partially there, but they are much faster. Switching inputs is much better now, as it locks on significantly faster. I have even re-enabled the native output from my S3Tivo, so that when I go from a show into the menu system, it switches from 1080 to 720. There is still a drop in the image, but it is so much faster at re-aqcuiring, that it is not as much of an annoyance.

The other thing that this fixed, is the problem when an input is selected, that is already active. Now the image does not drop out. Now I believe that my unit is functioning like everyone elses. Compared to the VP50, I would say that they are very close now, with switching, and locking speed. I have been told that this bug will be fixed in the next firmware release.

One other bug has cropped up, that I haven't seen since the days of the Immersive Holo3d card. Occaisionally, when I start watching something, I notice that the brightness floor is significantly elevated. The image looks washed out, and black level is terrible. If I pull up the pic settings, select brightness, and bump it down just a notch, it snaps back to where it should be, then I raise it back, and all is well. The last time I saw this was yesterday, after updating the firmware. When I checked it this morning it was stable. I will be keeping an eye out for this one.

Boy, its fun to be a Beta tester again. :rolleyes:

So far I am really enjoying the new update (1.30). Easy to do and the subtle improvements with basi controls helps. The new 1080p 47.95 to my ruby is priceless!!! :eek:

Did you get version 1.30a that they posted today, to take care of my bug. I was really impressed by how fast they came up with that. Very encouraging.

Actually not yet. I will have to get on that one now... :)

Did you get version 1.30a that they posted today, to take care of my bug. I was really impressed by how fast they came up with that. Very encouraging.

I only see 1.30 on their site. Where is 1.30a??

BTW, can someone tell my why I would want to use the Dynamic VP? If I want everything to just output at 1080P, why do I need to set special circumstances?
Besides the 50 in 50 output example mentioned by others, I can give you a lot more cases that are really helpful in my setup.

1. I have Marantz VP-11S1 (don't ask me why I also add Crystalio II even the Marantz has a Gennum inside, the real Crystalio II users know well). With the new V1.30 firmware, I (finally) can enjoy 48Hz judder free movie. I set DynamicVP (output) rules as

- when input NTSC film, output 1080p@47.95
- when input 1080i film, output 1080p@47.95
- when input 50Hz, output 1080p@50
- otherwise, output 1080p@59.94

I can enjoy all 47.95, 50, and 59.94 capability of my Marantz; that's really great! Real life example is that when I play HD-DVD "King Kong" or Blu-ray "RV" (Yes, I have both players :) ), output switched to 1080p@47.95, and when I change to play HD-DVD "Eagles Live", output switched to 1080p@59.94. Very happy.

2. I have Panny RP82 (SDI mod), connected to Crysatlio II. Not sure whether all RP82 SDI users know that when it plays PAL disc, the right side of the image has 6 pixels wide missing (appears to be a blank vertical bar at right side). I don't like this, so I create a video profile named "PAL" in Crystalio II with the image cropped at right side, and set DynamicVP (input, for the SDI port) rules as

- when input PAL, load video profile "PAL"
- otherwise, load video profile "Normal"

Everytime when I play a PAL disc, the video profile "PAL" is load automatically, hence the black bar on right is gone; very happy again. Besides, with the DynamicVP rules for output I defined above, the output resolution automatically changed to 1080p@50, making perfect smooth PAL 2:2 playback.

3. I have many concert video clips and movies clips (mainly recorded from Japanese broadcast). I usually play them using MyHD. I found that the video level of those video clips are different from those movie clips (don't ask me why, I just conclued this by my observation). So after my calibration, I have two profiles for each. I then set DynamicVP (input, for HDMI port of MyHD) rules as

- when input 1080i video, load video profile "Concert"
- when input 1080i film, load video profile "Movie"

Simple and happy.

Regards,
Morpheus

I only see 1.30 on their site. Where is 1.30a??
Click on the 1.30 link, and you will get 1.30a.

Morpheus

Thanks for the DynamicVP examples Morpheus - it's always great to see how people are using this and profiles.

Actually when I click on the link I am only seeing 1.30. Did they take it off?

Actually when I click on the link I am only seeing 1.30. Did they take it off?

Hi Joe-- I thought the same thing. Download the file, unzip it and you'll find 1.30a in the contents of the unzipped folder.

Lore

Joe--

You said in your first post that both HDMI outputs are simultaneously active. I just want to confirm this as I want to try the following:

HDMI 1 - direct video to my DLP display
HDMI 2 - PCM audio to my receiver

Will this work?

I never tried that but now you have me wondering. I do not see why it would not work. Both HDMIs and the component out all always active at the same time. So it should. Oh and thanks for telling me about the 130a showing up afterwards. I just did it and now I will go and install it in the crystalio II...

I will try the 2 HDMI output arrangement tonight. If it works I think I'll upgrade to the cheaper Tosh HD-DVD player the A2 rather than the XA2 since I could sent the True HD as uncompressed PCM to my receiver.

Keep us posted. I am just going to hurry up and do the 1.30a upgrade then hit the road. I will be back later...

OK, Just wanted to update you guy's. Turns out there is a bug in the Firmware. It has to do with HDMI audio. I was instructed by support, to go in and change the input audio, off of the current HDMI 2 input. This made a significant difference. The image drop outs are still partially there, but they are much faster. Switching inputs is much better now, as it locks on significantly faster. I have even re-enabled the native output from my S3Tivo, so that when I go from a show into the menu system, it switches from 1080 to 720. There is still a drop in the image, but it is so much faster at re-aqcuiring, that it is not as much of an annoyance.

The other thing that this fixed, is the problem when an input is selected, that is already active. Now the image does not drop out. Now I believe that my unit is functioning like everyone elses. Compared to the VP50, I would say that they are very close now, with switching, and locking speed. I have been told that this bug will be fixed in the next firmware release.

I tried the HDMI audio trick last night just to see if I would notice any difference (with v 1.30). I didn't but since I didn't notice any major switching problems like you did it doesn't really matter much. I still find it intriguing that you are reporting so many problems which I have not noticed.

Interesting Jack, because the 1.30a update completely eliminated the re-aquisition glitch on my unit. Perhaps, they did something to the newer units, that required this fix.

Interesting Jack, because the 1.30a update completely eliminated the re-aquisition glitch on my unit. Perhaps, they did something to the newer units, that required this fix.

yeah, maybe there is some subtle difference in the newer units. BTW I've only installed 1.3 so far. I haven't done 1.3a. I guess I'll try it this evening to see if it makes any difference. In any case, glad to hear that you seem to have sorted out your problems. So maybe you are now leaning toward keeping the CII?

Anyone else here running a 235:1 setup with an anamorphic lens faced with the 48hz tearing bug.
Jason mentioned the bug is in the Gennum chip and they will work with Gennum. I wonder if other Gennum based VP that offer 48 output have the tearing. Anyone know???
Bugs are normal as a product progresses and the team at Crystallio are doing a fine job. I have to be patient and have faith with the Crystallio team and hope it will be worked out soon :)

yeah, maybe there is some subtle difference in the newer units. BTW I've only installed 1.3 so far. I haven't done 1.3a. I guess I'll try it this evening to see if it makes any difference. In any case, glad to hear that you seem to have sorted out your problems. So maybe you are now leaning toward keeping the CII?

I am very encouraged with the speed at which my particular bug was addressed. Given their response, I am inclined to keep the C2, and hope that the rest of the issues get worked out soon. I still have some minor switching issues, but I had some with the VP50 as well.

I am very encouraged with the speed at which my particular bug was addressed. Given their response, I am inclined to keep the C2, and hope that the rest of the issues get worked out soon. I still have some minor switching issues, but I had some with the VP50 as well.

They do seem to be responive to user needs but they resolved your case particularly quickly. I haven't seen that happen quite that fast until now.

I hope it wasn't just because I was threatening to return it. :(

I hope it wasn't just because I was threatening to return it. :(

I don't think so. Maybe it was just something that was easy to fix. If you look through the PMS board there are some issues that people have been griping about (sometimes in quite a nasty tone) that are still unresolved. Still, all in all, I think the PMS guys are trying hard to iron out the bugs as fast as they can.

I will try the 2 HDMI output arrangement tonight. If it works I think I'll upgrade to the cheaper Tosh HD-DVD player the A2 rather than the XA2 since I could sent the True HD as uncompressed PCM to my receiver.

This does not work. I suspect you are mistaken that both HDMI outputs are outputting identical signals simultaneously. I set my Tosh XA1 HD-DVD to output PCM over HDMI. I than ran an HDMI cable from output HDMI2 on the CII to HMDI1 input on my Pioneer Elite 74txi receiver (running HDMI 1.1 like the Tosh).

The receiver acknowledges that there is an HDMI connection "live" on the input. However it doesn't put up PCM on the screen. It sits there with the default of "STEREO" and absolutely NO sound comes out. I double checking the manual to see if I had everything set correctly on the receiver and I did. :(

I also tried using the second output to feed my receiver but there needs to be a display at the end of the chain to complete the HDMI handshake:(

I also tried using the second output to feed my receiver but there needs to be a display at the end of the chain to complete the HDMI handshake:(

Are there handshake issues if you go HD Player > Receiver > CrystalioII > Display?

I also tried using the second output to feed my receiver but there needs to be a display at the end of the chain to complete the HDMI handshake:(

Alan,

The PE 74TXI has two options on the HDMI input-- you can specify passthru or you can specify receiver--where you expect it to end at the receiver. It still didn't work. I had set the HDMI to AMP.

Here's the info from page 64 of PE manual:

"HDMI
Specifies the routing of the HDMI audio signal out of this receiver (AMP) or through to a TV or plasma display (THROUGH)."

I am not feeling too good about the C2 tonight. I watched two episodes of CSI, Miami, and New York. The show didn't go 5 minutes at a time without loosing the picture. Every time there was a CSI scene transition/flashback sequence, it lost the image for a second. This was throughout both shows. It is part of the artistic nature of the CSI shows, but the C2 interperets it as loss of signal.

I swapped out cables, changed the input to component, and the ouput to the projector to component as well, but the drop outs continued. I then switched the cable directly into the projector, and the drop outs were gone. The problem is definately in the C2.

I am not sure I can be patient with this bad a bug. It is not a minor artifact, it is a complete loss of the image. Tomorrow, I am going to swap back to my VP50, and run the same sequences and see how it does.

This does not work. I suspect you are mistaken that both HDMI outputs are outputting identical signals simultaneously. I set my Tosh XA1 HD-DVD to output PCM over HDMI. I than ran an HDMI cable from output HDMI2 on the CII to HMDI1 input on my Pioneer Elite 74txi receiver (running HDMI 1.1 like the Tosh).

The receiver acknowledges that there is an HDMI connection "live" on the input. However it doesn't put up PCM on the screen. It sits there with the default of "STEREO" and absolutely NO sound comes out. I double checking the manual to see if I had everything set correctly on the receiver and I did. :(
As I mentioned on the PMS forum, in case you haven't checked it, I think the CII defaults to DVI-only outputs on both HDMI's. You may need to check that it's set to Auto instead in order to get it to send audio.

Of course, if you did that already then ignore me :). But, fwiw, I have had it pass though audio before (though from a TiVo S3, not a Tosh HD-DVD).

Chris.

I am not feeling too good about the C2 tonight. I watched two episodes of CSI, Miami, and New York. The show didn't go 5 minutes at a time without loosing the picture. Every time there was a CSI scene transition/flashback sequence, it lost the image for a second. This was throughout both shows. It is part of the artistic nature of the CSI shows, but the C2 interperets it as loss of signal.

I swapped out cables, changed the input to component, and the ouput to the projector to component as well, but the drop outs continued. I then switched the cable directly into the projector, and the drop outs were gone. The problem is definately in the C2.

I am not sure I can be patient with this bad a bug. It is not a minor artifact, it is a complete loss of the image. Tomorrow, I am going to swap back to my VP50, and run the same sequences and see how it does.

Man, I just think you got a lemon. Either that or there is some basic incompatibility with something in your system. Swap it and give another one a try. I've never seen anything like what you describe with my CII.

I watched two episodes of CSI, Miami, and New York. The show didn't go 5 minutes at a time without loosing the picture.
My CII has had no such problems with CSI Miami (or any other show).

Mine either. I have never had a single glitch. I kept switching back between HDMI out 1 and 2. I would send 1080p 59.94hz to my HDMI on my ruby then use output 2 to send 1080p 47.95hz to the DVI input. All that switching and never had a single issue. The 48hz looks great. No judder whatsoever! I also watched Benchwarmers on Br with the Panny and the picture was very olid in my set up. Free, if you are still experiencing these technical difficulties I hate to say it but swap it out...

Anyone else here running a 235:1 setup with an anamorphic lens faced with the 48hz tearing bug.
Jason mentioned the bug is in the Gennum chip and they will work with Gennum. I wonder if other Gennum based VP that offer 48 output have the tearing. Anyone know???
Bugs are normal as a product progresses and the team at Crystallio are doing a fine job. I have to be patient and have faith with the Crystallio team and hope it will be worked out soon :)

I am new to thie processor forum. However, I do have a CIH setup. I have a Panasonic Blu Ray player connected to a Panny AX-100 PJ & a Prismasonic H1200 lens. The PJ does the vertical fit required quite nicely. I am in Australia so my experience before Blu Ray was with PAL SD DVDs with an output of 50Hz. The Blu Ray discs we are getting here though are the same as the US with 60Hz output. I am experiencing judder to a greater extent than before. I was about to order the Crystallio II for its cadence lock feature hoping that would eliminate the problem. I read however on the Pixelmagic forum that the latest firmware does not solve the issue for CIH seups.
I therfore cancelled my order. These things are not cheap. I am a little uncertain about all this. Is my logic correct Alan?

Are we to expect another firmware release to solve the issue? Would the possible fix make 60Hz as smooth as the results I am used to with 50Hz discs?

I am new to the AVS Forum and interested in getting the CII to hook up to a Pioneer Pro FHD1 display.
If anyone has this combo would appreciate any feedback, I would also appreciate the thoughts of the experts in this forum about this combination

As I mentioned on the PMS forum, in case you haven't checked it, I think the CII defaults to DVI-only outputs on both HDMI's. You may need to check that it's set to Auto instead in order to get it to send audio.

Of course, if you did that already then ignore me :). But, fwiw, I have had it pass though audio before (though from a TiVo S3, not a Tosh HD-DVD).

Chris.

They are both set to Auto--still no PCM recognition/output coming through HDMI II to my receiver.

OK, this morning, I swapped out the Crystalio, with my VP50. Everything else was the same, cables, sources, etc. I ran the CSI sequences I was watching last night, and there were no problems at all. I switched around between sources, and the image locked on fast, and solid. There is definately something wrong with the Crystalio.

One thing I checked was the loss of synch with my HD-A1, and I was wrong. Switching away from the HD-A1, even with the VP50, I lost synch with it, and it shut down, so I just wanted to set the record straight with that observation.

There were a couple other things I noticed. One, is that I really prefer the menu system on the VP50. I know I am in the minority here, but I find it much easier to navigate, much more legible, and much less intrusive. I know the C2 menu has more options, but, for me, the VP50 is enough.

Now I have a dilemma. I do notice a slight improvement to the image, with the C2. There is a hair more detail. This is not an artificial sharpness, but seems to be actual detail. The image is a bit crisper, and the VP50 looks a hair soft in comparison. I tried to play with settings to get the same look, but was unsuccessful. There is also a bit more depth, and richness to the image on the C2. I think this may have something to do with Gamma, but I also, have been unable to re-create it on the VP50.

Right now, I am torn between returning the Crystalio, and sticking with the VP50, or trying one more time with a different C2 unit. If I didn't see the slight image improvement, it would be a no brainer, I would stick with the VP50.

That is one of the main reasons I picked the crystlaio II over the VP50 to. The depth, sharpness and details. I love it and could not go back to another VP at this point. I would definitely swap it out. Because now when you watch something you may think wow that looks good but then always wonder how much better it could have looked with your crystalio II. Seriously though, I have never had any issues you have described. I think it is worth one more shot. Then you don't have to wonder what if... ;)

I am on the fence on the C2. I have a VP 50, so I am OK for now. One thing I wouldn't want to do is buy a C2 now and find out they have a new model introduced at CES. Does anyone know if PM is going to introduce a new and improved product at CES?

I am new to thie processor forum. However, I do have a CIH setup. I have a Panasonic Blu Ray player connected to a Panny AX-100 PJ & a Prismasonic H1200 lens. The PJ does the vertical fit required quite nicely. I am in Australia so my experience before Blu Ray was with PAL SD DVDs with an output of 50Hz. The Blu Ray discs we are getting here though are the same as the US with 60Hz output. I am experiencing judder to a greater extent than before. I was about to order the Crystallio II for its cadence lock feature hoping that would eliminate the problem. I read however on the Pixelmagic forum that the latest firmware does not solve the issue for CIH seups.
I therfore cancelled my order. These things are not cheap. I am a little uncertain about all this. Is my logic correct Alan?

Are we to expect another firmware release to solve the issue? Would the possible fix make 60Hz as smooth as the results I am used to with 50Hz discs?
Hi Craig
If you want to output 50 or 60Hz to your PJ, then any CII firmware would be great for this option - I don't think the new firmware has changed anything for this. However if you want to send 48 or 72Hz to the display, you may want to wait until there is more information about the options you'll need for CIH.
Hope this helps

Now I have a dilemma. I do notice a slight improvement to the image, with the C2. There is a hair more detail. This is not an artificial sharpness, but seems to be actual detail. The image is a bit crisper, and the VP50 looks a hair soft in comparison. I tried to play with settings to get the same look, but was unsuccessful. There is also a bit more depth, and richness to the image on the C2. I think this may have something to do with Gamma, but I also, have been unable to re-create it on the VP50.



Yikes! I'm thinking of a VP30. My plasma currently has a very crisp and detailed picture. I was hoping the DVDO would bring out even more detail and not soften the picture. This is not good news

The DVDO doesn't soften the picture, it just doesn't bring out as much detail as the C2. It still looks better than the processing in my display devices.

I have a Sony Pearl and Panny 65" plasma, both are 1080P displays in the same room. I also have a 50" 720P plasma in the next room. I've been following this thread since day 1 and read the C2 manual. I hope you can help me with the following Q's:

1. So ideally, I could feed all three of my displays at the same time since the C2 outputs 3 simultaneous signals? The HDMIs would feed the Pearl and the 65" plasma and the component output for the 50" plasma, right?

2. However, the manual state that Primary port has the best resolution compare to the other two. Has anyone noticed that the picture is better on one HDMI over the other HDMI output?

3. The components output max resolution is 1080i or 720P correct?

4. Will I be able to adjust or calibrate three different setting for these three displays?

5. Can the audio be extracted from the HDMI to output to the Coaxial and Optical to send to the Pre/Pro and Receiver?

6. Now for the $5K question, have you noticed a significant improvement in the PQ over the internal VP to justify the cost of the C2?

Thanks!!

Right now, I am torn between returning the Crystalio, and sticking with the VP50, or trying one more time with a different C2 unit. If I didn't see the slight image improvement, it would be a no brainer, I would stick with the VP50.
Just for my interest: With which content do you see the slight image improvement? Is it mainly with SD movies? Or with SD sports? Or with HD movies? Or HD sports? Or do you see it everywhere?

Thanks!

I have a Sony Pearl and Panny 65" plasma, both are 1080P displays in the same room. I also have a 50" 720P plasma in the next room. I've been following this thread since day 1 and read the C2 manual. I hope you can help me with the following Q's:

1. So ideally, I could feed all three of my displays at the same time since the C2 outputs 3 simultaneous signals? The HDMIs would feed the Pearl and the 65" plasma and the component output for the 50" plasma, right?

2. However, the manual state that Primary port has the best resolution compare to the other two. Has anyone noticed that the picture is better on one HDMI over the other HDMI output?

3. The components output max resolution is 1080i or 720P correct?

4. Will I be able to adjust or calibrate three different setting for these three displays?

5. Can the audio be extracted from the HDMI to output to the Coaxial and Optical to send to the Pre/Pro and Receiver?

6. Now for the $5K question, have you noticed a significant improvement in the PQ over the internal VP to justify the cost of the C2?

Thanks!!

I'll take a go at this and hopefully others will check my answers :)
1) Yes - but with limitations. I don't know what is output over the component if the Primary port is set to 1080p for example.
2) I only have one display, but basically all the settings of the Primary port apply to all of the others - I think that's why you may end up with a poorer picture - not because of a inherent loss of quality over multiple outputs.
3) Correct
4) Yes, but not while they are simultaneously on. Then it's a bit more like pot luck - it depends on colourspace settings and quite a few other things.
5) Yes
6) I don't have an internal VP - but I've seen it improve other display devices enough to justify it's cost, yes. But this is very personal - value is very different to everyone and depends on how much you've noticed the problems with your current VPs. If you are constantly annoyed by deinterlacing or other artifacts, then I would be pretty confident you would prefer the CII.


Basically multiple displays is absolutely fine. Multiple simultaneous displays will be dependent on a few factors.

Hope that helps at least a little bit

Tryingtimes - thank you very much for your response. By internal VP, I meant the processors of the displays, I currently do not have any external VP. The Pearl and the 65" will never be on at the same time. However, 50" in the other room may sometimes be on at the same time just for kicks/fun. I am a bit concern about the Primary Port display issue since the Primary will feed the Pearl and the Secondary HDMI will feed the 65" plasma. I didn't want to take anything away from the 65" so I was hoping the resolution is equal on both HDMI outputs. I hope Joerod will chime in since he's got both of his HDMIs output to the Ruby.

The DVDO doesn't soften the picture, it just doesn't bring out as much detail as the C2. It still looks better than the processing in my display devices.

Good to know as i had heard the soft picture comment in other psots

Now I have a dilemma. I do notice a slight improvement to the image, with the C2. There is a hair more detail. This is not an artificial sharpness, but seems to be actual detail. The image is a bit crisper, and the VP50 looks a hair soft in comparison. I tried to play with settings to get the same look, but was unsuccessful. There is also a bit more depth, and richness to the image on the C2. I think this may have something to do with Gamma, but I also, have been unable to re-create it on the VP50.

Right now, I am torn between returning the Crystalio, and sticking with the VP50, or trying one more time with a different C2 unit. If I didn't see the slight image improvement, it would be a no brainer, I would stick with the VP50.

Knowing what you know now, which unit would you buy, the VP50 or the C2?

BTW, what type of display do you have?

Right now, I am on the fence. Stay tuned, because I am probably going to try a replacement C2.

My display is a Sharp XV-Z20000

I have found new appreciation for the CII (I know that is hard to believe) thanks to Kris Deering's great suggestion. I am now sending 480i via component to my CII from my Panny Br player for SD DVDs. Then the crystalio II works its "magic" and deinterlaces it to 1080p which looks brilliant on my ruby. Wow! :eek: If you really want to SEE how good this VP is then send in a raw 480i signal. Now I have the very best of all 4 (SD DVD and HD DVDs and Blu ray and DTHEATER) worlds. This crystalio II is very flexible. I have the Xbox 360 hooked up to component input 2 and now the Panny in component input 1. And I still use the Panny's HDMI out for the Blu ray discs...

Stupid question on my part but am I correct to assume SD DVDs natively output 480!.

Yes, 480i... :)

Tryingtimes - thank you very much for your response. By internal VP, I meant the processors of the displays, I currently do not have any external VP. The Pearl and the 65" will never be on at the same time. However, 50" in the other room may sometimes be on at the same time just for kicks/fun. I am a bit concern about the Primary Port display issue since the Primary will feed the Pearl and the Secondary HDMI will feed the 65" plasma. I didn't want to take anything away from the 65" so I was hoping the resolution is equal on both HDMI outputs. I hope Joerod will chime in since he's got both of his HDMIs output to the Ruby.
This is often a point people get confused over.
The Primary port isn't HDMI1, it's whichever is currently set as the Output Port.
So when the Pearl is being watched, it is the Primary Port. When the 65" is being watched it is the Primary Output Port. Each port is setup differently and you just switch between them.

The Secondary Output Ports are the 2 which aren't currently set as the Primary.
So in your case the 50" Plasma may occasionally be on a Secondary Output Port when you have 2 displays on simultaneously. It's then that you might not get the best processing, but as it's just for kicks/fun - iut should be absolutely fine as long as it can handle the resolution being fed to it.

Hope this puts your fears to rest.

I knew you meant the display's own VP - I don't have anything internal as I'm using a CRT PJ. So I HAVE to have some kind of external VP. But I have had a high-end HTPC a Crystalio I and now CII - CII is definitely an improvement over the others in all areas. However I've heard a few reports that the top end 1080p Plasmas also have good processing. Those that have attached a external VP to the Pearl/Ruby have all commented on a distinct improvement.

How is the Crystallio II with passing HDMI audio (PCM and bitstream)? Any issues?

I still have not had any audio issues. I am now using the latest firmware verison 1.30a...

How is the Crystallio II with passing HDMI audio (PCM and bitstream)? Any issues?
I have 2 HDMI audio sources (neither have HDCP though) and have had no problems.
I seem to remember a couple of hiccups with people in the past, but these may have been sorted. Best bet is have a look on Pixel Magic forums and see if anyone has problems with the same setup as you.

How is the Crystallio II with passing HDMI audio (PCM and bitstream)? Any issues?
Inputs have been working fine for me, except the Oppo 970HD with its latest firmware; the HDMI handshake results in the Oppo thinking DD5.1 isn't supported, and I get only a subset of channels at my receiver. I've yet to figure out which device(s) to blame. The Oppo's original firmware worked fine (it forced bitstream rather than looking at EDID info). I route separate digital coax into the CII for the Oppo as a result. I'm using optical audio out from the CII, not HDMI audio out.

If people want a complete picture of CII issues, they'd be well served to browse the PMS forum.

.......If people want a complete picture of CII issues, they'd be well served to browse the PMS forum.
Agree, but it is interesting and informative to get a view of the problems here on this Forum, as here we tend to focus more on how the performance (and problems) compare to that of the VP50. This is why I would encourage Free (Phil) to continue to post his experiences with the CII on this thread rather than the PM forum.

Right now, I am on the fence. Stay tuned, because I am probably going to try a replacement C2.

My display is a Sharp XV-Z20000I have the Z20000 also and I didn't notice any obvious improvement from using the Vantage HD HQV external processor.

I am a bit concern about the Primary Port display issue since the Primary will feed the Pearl and the Secondary HDMI will feed the 65" plasma. I didn't want to take anything away from the 65" so I was hoping the resolution is equal on both HDMI outputs.
Tryingtimes is right, you can set any of the three output ports as primary port.

By the way, even if you watch the Pearl and 65" plasma at the same time (HDMI1 as primary and HDMI2 as secondary), the two HDMI outputs will still be the same except that if they have a very different input characteristics, e.g., one with 16-235 video level and the other with 0-255 PC level; or one with RGB 4:4:4 and the other with YCbCr 4:2:2. In that case, they will have a hairly difference due to additional video level or color space conversion. I mentioned in the manual that the priority goes to the primary mainly because I want to point out that they are theoratically different. In fact, it is very difficult to spot the difference.

Jason

I have the Z20000 also and I didn't notice any obvious improvement from using the Vantage HD HQV external processor.

I haven't used the Vantage, but the VP50 improves on the internal scaler in the Sharp, and the C2 improves it further to my eyes.

I haven't used the Vantage, but the VP50 improves on the internal scaler in the Sharp, and the C2 improves it further to my eyes.

Which would be consistent with Greg Rogers finding in his review of the Sharp. In the WSR review thread, Greg specifically recommended use of an external VP with the Sharp.

I am not feeling too good about the C2 tonight. I watched two episodes of CSI, Miami, and New York. The show didn't go 5 minutes at a time without loosing the picture. Every time there was a CSI scene transition/flashback sequence, it lost the image for a second. This was throughout both shows. It is part of the artistic nature of the CSI shows, but the C2 interperets it as loss of signal.

I swapped out cables, changed the input to component, and the ouput to the projector to component as well, but the drop outs continued. I then switched the cable directly into the projector, and the drop outs were gone. The problem is definately in the C2.

Are you watching a recording? Does the drop out occur at the same spot and repeatable? What's the source signal type? 1080i? Can you force the source to output in other resolution? Any difference if Crystalio II HDMI Output in Force DVI mode? Have you try other HDMI Input ports on the Crystalio II? When the drop out occur, what happen on screen? Does it show the Crystalio II "no signal" blue screen?

If possible, I want to know if the drop out occur at Crystalio II Input, Crystalio II Output, or the projector Input.

regards,

Li On

If possible, I want to know if the drop out occur at Crystalio II Input, Crystalio II Output, or the projector Input.
Li On

So would I, but since I reported that it is happening when watching a recording, also when changing resolutions, and that I tried all variations of inputs and outputs, it remains a mystery to me.

I still have not had any audio issues. I am now using the latest firmware verison 1.30a...

joerod, have you also tried HD-DVD and / or Blu-Ray audio via HDMI? If so, does this also work?

Thanks in advance.

It does work but then I have to send the audio out from the crystalio II to my TX1000 so I don't use it that way. I just send HDMI into the crystalio II for video only. I use COAX outs on the players and analog outs...

Has anybody tried to use the analog Audio-Outputs of the CII ?

Is just an analog stereo signal passed through or is also a digital stereo signal being processed to the analog ouput (D/A conversion) ?

Thanks for any idea....

I will experiment with this later and let you know... :)

I will experiment with this later and let you know... :)

That would be fine Thanx :cool:

P.S.
And if You test it, perhaps You can try the other way around. Is an analog audio input signal passed on the digital audio output ?

I have an odd problem. The Crystalio ll is not seeing a signal from my DirecTV HD receiver in either HDMI or Component inputs. Both work with other sources. Any ideas?

Another question. The input on the Thumdrive is nothing I've ever seen before. It is not a standard USB port. Help.

So would I, but since I reported that it is happening when watching a recording, also when changing resolutions, and that I tried all variations of inputs and outputs, it remains a mystery to me.

Changing resolutions will cause the Crystalio II to re-detect the source signal.

You said the "drop out" occur during "scene transition". Is it a full white or full black scene transition or other type of image?

Again please check if there is pop-up message at the upper left corner of "no signal" or a input source info message or even the blue screen no source screen from the Crystalio II during the drop out.

You can also check the cycle through all the Crystalio II internal test pattern (while displaying a test pattern, left/right arrow to cycle between the next pattern, up/down arrow to toggle test pattern color) and see if there is some test pattern that may cause such "drop out" issue.

regards,

Li On

The drop outs ocurred during the scene transitions in CSI which have flashes of light. I don't believe the pop up message came up during most of the blue screens. I did not see the behavior, when I examined the test patterns earlier. The C2 is currently awaiting shipment back to PM.

I have an odd problem. The Crystalio ll is not seeing a signal from my DirecTV HD receiver in either HDMI or Component inputs. Both work with other sources. Any ideas?

For HDMI input, does it not work on all 4 Crystalio II HDMI Inputs? Is the Crystalio II front panel LCD screen show "No Signal" or other info? What's your HD receiver HDMI output format/resolution? Have you try other HDMI output format/resolution from the HD receiver (if possible)?

What's your display device and connection type from the Crystalio II Output? If you're using analog output or your display device does not support HDCP then there won't be any picture if the input source is HDCP protected.

Can you try connect the HD receiver via HDMI directly to your display device? If so what's the HD receiver output resolution/format?

For the component input issue, please notice that currently only the bottom row Component 1 and 2 accept 1080i/720p source. And make sure to config/setup the input port for component source in the OSD. The upper row Component 3 and 4 accepts upto 480p/576p source only. And make sure to connect the component cable in the correct order according to the back panel label.

regards,

Li On

Another question. The input on the Thumdrive is nothing I've ever seen before. It is not a standard USB port. Help.

If you're asking if the Crystalio II back panel is a standard USB port, yes it is!

regards,

Li On

The C2 is currently awaiting shipment back to PM.

Ok. We will find a Sharp Z20000 to test.

regards,

Li On

Li On,

Thanks for the quick reply.

The HDMI input I use works with my dvd player.

The front display says "No Signal"

I am using a Ruby Projector. Connection to Crystalio is HDMI.

HD Receiver works directly with projector with both Component and HDMI.

What's the HD receiver HDMI output resolution and format? I guess you can check the Ruby "info" page with a direct connection. Can you force the HD receiver in other output resolutions and try on the Crystalio II? Is it not working on all the 4 HDMI Input ports on the Crystalio II? Does the Crystalio II show the usual blue screen "no signal" or other behaviour?

If possible, please try another short HDMI cable between the HD receiver and the Crystalio II.

regards,

Li On

Has anybody tried to use the analog Audio-Outputs of the CII ?

Is just an analog stereo signal passed through or is also a digital stereo signal being processed to the analog ouput (D/A conversion) ?
I use analog audio output to my Plasma (50" Fujitsu). Note that CII can only process PCM to analog conversion. That means I have sound on the Plasma when I play CD audio using the internal media player; but I don't when I play DVD from my RP82 with digital AC-3 audio to the CII. Therefore I have an input profile to select analog audio (instead of digital audio) from RP82 when I watch DVD on my plasma.

By the way, CII can convert analog audio input to digital audio output also; format is PCM 48KHz stereo. I use this when I watch TV (PAL broadcast analog audio to CII) on my projector (with CII digital audio out to my receiver).

Morpheus

thanks for the fyi

@Morpheus
Thanks a lot, these are great news !!!

I need the analog audio in- an outputs for some VCRs

Then my decision for the CII seems to be clear :cool:

Li On,

I just upgraded my Firmware to 130 andit may be coincidental but Crystalio is nowaccepting signals from my HDR. Am also feeding it 480i from my Meridian G98 with truly spectacular results. Now I have to stop staring at it and get back to work so I can pay for it!

I love what the crystalio II does with 480i signals. It is almost as impressive as what it does with 1080i...

Why do the refresh rates matter?

Why do the refresh rates matter?
Do you mean why do people want 48Hz?
Or do you mean something else?


BTW Free/Phil - I remembered something else last night while I was playing with various CII features. We talked about moving the slider bars to the edge of the screen so they weren't in the way.
Well you can also hide the OSD while still adjusting - just press the 'bulb' button on the remote - OSD is still fully active - press again to show the OSD again.

I forgot about that option. I know when I hit picture on the remote I only have the picture settings on the screen and no guide. It makes it a lot more easier adjusting the picture... :)

[QUOTE=tryingtimes]Do you mean why do people want 48Hz?
Or do you mean something else?


Yes. It hasn't been clear to me which rate was preferable, so if it 48Hz, why?

ok - I'll do it quick but there's probably a better post on here - maybe in Ofer's "why VP" sticky.

Basically film is 24 frames per second
To make that fit the NTSC 60Hz transmissions they do what's called 3:2 pulldown and show 1 of the original frames twice then the next original frame 3 times. As you can imagine this creates a slight judder.

Basically 24/48/72Hz is a way to get the original frames shown in an even sequence.

This only applies to material shot on film (films, glossy tv shows, etc). For video-camera stuff 60Hz is still preferable.

Hope that helps

Trying Times

Thanks so much!

Li On,

I am having dropouts as well, with HDR source only, 1080i. It last happened when there was a burst of white light in the scene, screen went blue for a second, image source info appeared in upper left hand corner. HDR connected to Cll through componwents. Still cannot get HDMI from HDR to work. DVDs have not exhinited this problem except when fast forwarding, and then it may happen multiple times, but ceases when DVd starts playing again. I have the 1.30a upgrade.

If the source is 1080i component then you're using either Component 1 or Component 2. Does the drop out occur on both input ports or just one? Is this problem occur recently?

regards,

Li On

Li On,

I am having dropouts as well, with HDR source only, 1080i. It last happened when there was a burst of white light in the scene, screen went blue for a second, image source info appeared in upper left hand corner. HDR connected to Cll through componwents. Still cannot get HDMI from HDR to work. DVDs have not exhinited this problem except when fast forwarding, and then it may happen multiple times, but ceases when DVd starts playing again. I have the 1.30a upgrade.


Oh, Oh, sounds exactly like what I was experiencing. :(


BTW Free/Phil - I remembered something else last night while I was playing with various CII features. We talked about moving the slider bars to the edge of the screen so they weren't in the way. Well you can also hide the OSD while still adjusting - just press the 'bulb' button on the remote - OSD is still fully active - press again to show the OSD again.

Thanks, I will definately try that. :)

I just got my SDI modded DVD player (Pioneer Elite 59avi) back from JVP today and hoooked it up to my Crystalio II SDI port 1 and ran a digital audio cable
from the DVD player to the Crystalio as well.

The DVD player played the first DVD I put in for about 15 minutes. They the image froze for about a second and disappeared from the screen. The Crystalio then reported that there is NO input signal present on SDI port 1. I tried turning off the Crystalio and the DVD player with the remotes but only the audio would return (audio was never lost when the image was). I then UNPLUGGED the DVD player, plugged it back in and repowered the Crystalio. This time the image played for a few seconds, then froze and the screen went blank. The Crystalio
again reported NO source image and the audio continued to play.

I unplugged both units and plugged the DVD player's SDI connection into SDI port 2 on the Crystalio. I didn't have any problems with that and was able to watch all of Superbit Spider-Man with no gliches.

Do you think I have a defective SDI port (1) on the Crystalio??

I just got my SDI modded DVD player (Pioneer Elite 59avi) back from JVP today and hoooked it up to my Crystalio II SDI port 1 and ran a digital audio cable
from the DVD player to the Crystalio as well.

The DVD player played the first DVD I put in for about 15 minutes. They the image froze for about a second and disappeared from the screen. The Crystalio then reported that there is NO input signal present on SDI port 1. I tried turning off the Crystalio and the DVD player with the remotes but only the audio would return (audio was never lost when the image was). I then UNPLUGGED the DVD player, plugged it back in and repowered the Crystalio. This time the image played for a few seconds, then froze and the screen went blank. The Crystalio
again reported NO source image and the audio continued to play.

I unplugged both units and plugged the DVD player's SDI connection into SDI port 2 on the Crystalio. I didn't have any problems with that and was able to watch all of Superbit Spider-Man with no gliches.

Do you think I have a defective SDI port (1) on the Crystalio??

I don't know what the problem is but I can tell you that I routinely run an SDI-modded DVD player thorugh my C 3800 SDI1 with no problems.

After you got it working on SDI2 did you go back and try it again on SDI1?

I thought the 59avi had the capacity to output 480i via HDMI. If so, why the trouble of the SDI mod? Or am I getting it mixed up with one of the other Pios?

I don't know what the problem is but I can tell you that I routinely run an SDI-modded DVD player thorugh my C 3800 SDI1 with no problems.

After you got it working on SDI2 did you go back and try it again on SDI1?

I thought the 59avi had the capacity to output 480i via HDMI. If so, why the trouble of the SDI mod? Or am I getting it mixed up with one of the other Pios?

Yes the 59avi does do 480i over HDMI but there is processing of the signal that is going on. Thru passthru was not implemented by Pioneer until the 79avi. There were numerous postings in the 79avi threat where the HMDI output at 480i was compared for the 59avi and the 79avi and seen to be different. See some of the posts that LEVESQUE made in that thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=578758

Yes the 59avi does do 480i over HDMI but there is processing of the signal that is going on. Thru passthru was not implemented by Pioneer until the 79avi. There were numerous postings in the 79avi threat where the HMDI output at 480i was compared for the 59avi and the 79avi and seen to be different. See some of the posts that LEVESQUE made in that thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=578758

Yeah I followed that discussion for a while then dropped out. Now that I think about it, at the time, it was mostly speculation as the 79 hadn't been released. What I'm waiting/hoping for are HD SDI mods. I'm still not convinced that going through HDMI is equal to SDI or HDSDI. That is one of the reasons I chose the C 3800 over the C 3300. the other advantage, of course, is that one does not have to deal with all the handshaking crap related to HDCP.

Li On

Am still working on HDR HDMI output to Cll but another glitch occurred today. 20 minutes into a DVD the screen suddenly split into vertical bands about 5 inches wide (I have a Ruby and a 100" screen)with the alternating bands in distorted color. I turned off the Cll the turned it back on. Bands were gone but red color was missing. Turned it off and on again and problem went away. Any ideas?

Also, My Meridian G98 responds unevenly to remote device. When scrolling through menu choices it will only stop at every other choice. To operate it correctly I must use manual controls. This never happened until I attached the Cll. Any ideas?

Thanks

I've not seen any posts of an A-B comparison of the same film in both SD and HD through the Cll. I have a Meridian G98, Cll and Ruby projector and as I was watching the newly release Underworld:Evolution I was trying to imagine, without much success, how the picture could be substantially or even marginally better than what I was seeing.

Anybody?

I've not seen any posts of an A-B comparison of the same film in both SD and HD through the Cll. I have a Meridian G98, Cll and Ruby projector and as I was watching the newly release Underworld:Evolution I was trying to imagine, without much success, how the picture could be substantially or even marginally better than what I was seeing.

Anybody?

I've seen a few movies in both HD and SD--like Fifth Element. I have the FE SD DVD and also a BR version. I've also seen the HD version on TV. There is more sharpness, definition, and depth. Pretty much what you would expect. I've got an HD TIVO so I've recorded some HD versions of moives I have on SD DVD. Pretty much the same results as with FE. Of course, you also have to factor in the quality of the HD transmission when you pick it up from TV.

I find that SD DVDs look pretty good but sometimes a bit fuzzy. BTW, I've tried SD DVDs via my Denon 3910 with SDI to CII and also with a Samsung BR player via HDMI. I actually think the SDI connection looks a better but it is probably not a fair comparison because the BR player can only output 480p which means that it is doing the deinterlacing compared to the CII doing it via SDI.

Someone (in this thread I think) mentioned that if you rip a DVD and copy it to the C3800 media player it looks better off the origianl disc. I still haven't got around to getting my MP set up. I'm not sure if you have the 3800 but that is another thing to try.

BTW I'm displaying these on a 65 inch 1080p Panasonic plasma.

Am still working on HDR HDMI output to Cll but another glitch occurred today. 20 minutes into a DVD the screen suddenly split into vertical bands about 5 inches wide (I have a Ruby and a 100" screen)with the alternating bands in distorted color. I turned off the Cll the turned it back on. Bands were gone but red color was missing. Turned it off and on again and problem went away. Any ideas?

We are checking the issue. It seems really random and occur in recent firmware. Hopefully a firmware update will fix it.

Also, My Meridian G98 responds unevenly to remote device. When scrolling through menu choices it will only stop at every other choice. To operate it correctly I must use manual controls. This never happened until I attached the Cll. Any ideas?


Please try set the front panel System->Front Panel->Remote Control->Repeat Delay to the max value 26. That will disable auto key repeat and you need to press button for each step. It should solve any missing/repeat key press issue.

regards,

Li On

Li On:
Dont know if you picked it up allready from the 1.30 firmware thread, but this firmware has introduced a new hdmi audio problem. After switching inputs say 2-5 times my Pioneer receiver(hdmi input connected to CII output2) still displays that there is a hdmi link but there is no sound. If I (or the vp dynamic) switch output resolution to my screen a few times, the sound also quits.
Usually I have to powercycle the receiver to get sound again but sometimes that doesnt help and I have to remove the powercable from the CII to get it working. Powercycling the CII without removing the powercord doesnt help.

Turns out the problem I have been having with image drop outs to blue screen, is becoming common. There is a thread over on the PM forum, where people are coming out of the woodwork to report the same issues.

PM is supposed to send me a new unit next week, but I am wondering if it will have the same issues? :(

Turns out the problem I have been having with image drop outs to blue screen, is becoming common. There is a thread over on the PM forum, where people are coming out of the woodwork to report the same issues.

PM is supposed to send me a new unit next week, but I am wondering if it will have the same issues? :(

Free, I'm very eager to hear from you when you get the new unit. Just out of curiosity are they sending you the new unit before you have to return the old?

I believe so. I have not been asked to return the old one yet, and they said I would have the new one next week. I have saved a CSI episode, that aired a week ago, that had a lot of "Flashes" in the beginning, that caused multiple drop outs.

Turns out the problem I have been having with image drop outs to blue screen, is becoming common. There is a thread over on the PM forum, where people are coming out of the woodwork to report the same issues.

PM is supposed to send me a new unit next week, but I am wondering if it will have the same issues? :(

My exchanged unit has no more blue screen problems

if only the Mediaplayer wouldn't interfer with the C2 that often.


Michael

Turns out the problem I have been having with image drop outs to blue screen, is becoming common. There is a thread over on the PM forum, where people are coming out of the woodwork to report the same issues.

PM is supposed to send me a new unit next week, but I am wondering if it will have the same issues? :(

Free,

I think it is very helpful for everyone when someone like you posts a particular problem. Still, just because four people over at the PMS site post the same problem doesn't mean that the problem is widespread. So I don't think you can come to the conclusion that all or most of the units are having this problem and it might even be likely that only a small percentage of units are affected. I haven't noticed the problem on my unit. Then again, maybe I'm the one who is in the minority. ;)

Free,

I think it is very helpful for everyone when someone like you posts a particular problem. Still, just because four people over at the PMS site post the same problem doesn't mean that the problem is widespread. So I don't think you can come to the conclusion that all or most of the units are having this problem and it might even be likely that only a small percentage of units are affected. I haven't noticed the problem on my unit. Then again, maybe I'm the one who is in the minority. ;)Now that more people are taking an interest in this beast and this thread, especially how it performs against their VP50s, I think it's becoming clearer, to me at least, that there certainly is no such thing as a perfect VP. One that copes with anything you throw at it, i.e. any source no matter how badly it may be formatted.

I think the user base of the VP50 is much larger than the CII, so you are going to see more problems surface as a greater variety of equipment is being attached to it. It may that the CII would come up with a similar number of problems if it were subjected/attached to the same range of equipment. It would seem that Joerod has the "right" pieces of gear that he attaches to his CII as I seem to have with my VP50 - we're both pretty happy vegimites with our respective VPs. But, others are not, and mostly for legitimate reasons - I exclude here wish list items like low latency for gaming for example.

So, Free (Phil) as I said in an earlier post, keep up your postings on the CII as they reflect your experience with it from a VP50 user's point of view.

Excellent post. I must have the right equipment because it all gels nicely together. I even added a TOSHIBA REGZA 37" LCD/DVD combo HLV 66 in my Wife's bar (on the wall) and I sent one HDMI out from the C2 to it and it worked perfectly. So I had our HD DVD movie on in the theater and on the other side of the basement in her bar at the same time. And I am pleased to say all looked great. I will be adding the XA2 to it soon (hopefully) so I hope I continue to have success with my set up. BTW, that Toshiba is a nice unit and puts out a superb picture. The C2 is so flexible that I like being able to send Br or HD DVD or whatever I am watching in my theater to it. I also have a HR20 DVR running to the Toshiba for DirecTV... :)

My exchanged unit has no more blue screen problems
if only the Mediaplayer wouldn't interfer with the C2 that often.
Michael

That is encouraging to know, hopefully my replacement will solve the problem for me as well. How is the Media Player interfering with the C2?

Joerod, I will be getting an X-A2 as well. Did you ever decide on a Blu-Ray player? I still have a pre-order in for the Pioneer.

I have the Panny and plan on keeping it for quite awhile. I figure no matter what player I get the C2 will help it shine even more. At the level of picture Quality these players are at it is like splitting hairs decideing which one these days... :)

That is encouraging to know, hopefully my replacement will solve the problem for me as well. How is the Media Player interfering with the C2?



as soon as something is copied onto the internal Harddrive and another
input is selected, the picture either disapears or garbles up.

it looks like the media player is somehow 'connected' to the processor
and can cause a failure.

Michael

We are checking the issue. It seems really random and occur in recent firmware. Hopefully a firmware update will fix it.



Please try set the front panel System->Front Panel->Remote Control->Repeat Delay to the max value 26. That will disable auto key repeat and you need to press button for each step. It should solve any missing/repeat key press issue.

regards,

Li On

I changed the Repeat Delay but it had no effect. Also, when watching a DVD if I activate any of the Cll adjustments or menues it also activates the DVDs top of screen hapter display which can only be eliminated by turning DVD playeroff and on.

I changed the Repeat Delay but it had no effect.

Please adjust the Repeat Delay to the max value at 26 I think. It will disable "repeat" key action and you need to press button for each adjustment. If at Repeat Delay max 26 you can still get auto repeat remote action by holding down a key then something is wrong!

regards,

Li On

Please adjust the Repeat Delay to the max value at 26 I think. It will disable "repeat" key action and you need to press button for each adjustment. If at Repeat Delay max 26 you can still get auto repeat remote action by holding down a key then something is wrong!

regards,

Li On

Cannot get auto repeat remote action but this has done nothing to fix problem of G98 remote control malfunctioning with G98 DVD player or Chapter OSD from appearing when I activate any of the Cll remote commands while watching a movie.

Also, still have extreme signal interruptions when watching HD Tivo.

I did not have any interruptions while watching approximately 6 hours of NFL HD today using my HD TIVO... (the HR20 and HR10-250)...

I did not have any interruptions while watching approximately 6 hours of NFL HD today using my HD TIVO... (the HR20 and HR10-250)...

How about when you fast forward?

I did not fast forward as much but I did rewind a lot. Seriously I had no drop outs. Picture or audio... :confused:

I did not fast forward as much but I did rewind a lot. Seriously I had no drop outs. Picture or audio... :confused:

Technical issues aside don't you FF through commercials, time-outs, Etc? That's why God gave us the Tivo.

I am watching the games live. I do rewind here and there and then I fast forward back but for the most part I am watching a couple games at a time. DirecTV has those cool channels (game mix and redzone) that allow me to surf through the games... Then in between time outs I always turn it to another game... The NFL in HD, there is nothing like it! :eek:

Need to quick check with VPS3300 owners ....

1. Does VPS3300 has auto NLS for 4:3 video format? When the input source (HDMI, component or composite) is received as 4:3, does VPS3300 detect it's a 4:3 and auto apply NLS on the 4:3? Is there any setting in VPS3300 that does that conveniently without manual intervention on the remote control?

2. Does VPS3300 auto-switch for both video format and aspect ratio if there is a content change in the same input source? Or I have to fiddle with the remote control whenever there is a content change within the same input source? Just as an example, if the source from input A is showing 16:9 1080i HD film, then during advertisment, it's streaming in as 4:3 480i SD video. Does VPS3300 auto detect the 4:3 and 480i and process the input signal automatically?

Thanks.

Need to quick check with VPS3300 owners ....

1. Does VPS3300 has auto NLS for 4:3 video format? When the input source (HDMI, component or composite) is received as 4:3, does VPS3300 detect it's a 4:3 and auto apply NLS on the 4:3? Is there any setting in VPS3300 that does that conveniently without manual intervention on the remote control?

2. Does VPS3300 auto-switch for both video format and aspect ratio if there is a content change in the same input source? Or I have to fiddle with the remote control whenever there is a content change within the same input source? Just as an example, if the source from input A is showing 16:9 1080i HD film, then during advertisment, it's streaming in as 4:3 480i SD video. Does VPS3300 auto detect the 4:3 and 480i and process the input signal automatically?

HD channels don't often (if ever) switch resolutions - they tend to send 1080i (or 720p) all the time, with SD content up-rezzed and with side bars added.

Other than the things you can look for with DynamicVP (resolution, refresh rate, etc) and set (switches between video or output profiles) the CII doesn't do anything else automatically wrt aspect ratio.

If you do have resolution changes, you can program DynamicVP to do things with it. (Though I find it a bit slow)

Chris.

Free,

I think it is very helpful for everyone when someone like you posts a particular problem. Still, just because four people over at the PMS site post the same problem doesn't mean that the problem is widespread. So I don't think you can come to the conclusion that all or most of the units are having this problem and it might even be likely that only a small percentage of units are affected. I haven't noticed the problem on my unit. Then again, maybe I'm the one who is in the minority. ;)

This is true. However I'd really like to hear from anyone who's using a Tivo S3 or DirectTivo HD via component cables (specifically on component ports 1&2) who isn't experiencing this problem. Someone put up a request for any "counter reports" on the PMS support forum thread, and the only people who don't have the problem are either using HDMI (which I can't use since I have an analog CRT) or s-video (which defeats the purpose of my HD Tivos).

Is anyone here not having a blue screen problem with Tivo connected to component inputs 1&2 on their C2? (at any resolution)

(NOTE: the Tivo HD works great on my old Crytalio 2300 connected to the component inputs, or when connected to the C2's component port 4 at 480i -- but comp. 4 doesn't support HD)

Scott

I've been having LOTS of problems with the CII maintaining its colorspace since I got it a month ago. I am using all 4 HDMI inputs and the problems occur when switching BETWEEN inputs or just changing channels within a single input.

Typically, one of the primary colors appears to drop out leaving the screen colors all messed up. Sometimes the image reverts to black and white with intermitted vertical bars of a purplish/pink color.

This happens when changing items on my HD TIVO -- especially if they were recorded with different native resolutions, starting up my DVD or HD-DVD player, etc.

I don't think I can go through an evening of tv watching without the CII screwing up the color 2-3x a night. And YES -- I have set the appropriate color spaces in the menus based on all the recommendations here and in the Pixel Magic Forum.

The only way to resolve the problem is to turn off the CII with the remote (place it in standby), wait about 5-6 seconds and then turn the CII back on. Sometimes I have to do this twice but usually once is enough to restore the color space.

I owned a Vantage HD for about 6 months and while it had problems, it never had this kind of continual problem with a screwup of the colorspace. I didn't have the VP50 long enough to see this.

I contacted Jason over at A/V Science from whom I bought the unit and I'm going to try to send it back for repair or replacement. It's got to go all the way to Hong Kong. I am really worried that there are fundamental flaws in the firmware/hardware that will keep any replacement unit screwing up the colors on the HDMI inputs during changes still. :(

I hope I don't have to sell the unit to replace it with a Lumagen when they come out in the spring....I'll take a bath on the cost.

lorelevitt, sorry to hear about the problems you are having with the CII. Please keep us posted on the outcome. I have heard that the support given by PMS is quite good. Let's hope that they resolve your issues.

Hi Lorelevitt.
hmmmm - the only time I had something like this was because I'd messed up with dynamicVP/profiles I think.

Have you checked to see if you have any profiles saved with conflicting colourspaces.
Then check to see if any of the DynamicVP rules call on any profiles

Just a thought anyway

Hi Lorelevitt.
hmmmm - the only time I had something like this was because I'd messed up with dynamicVP/profiles I think.

Have you checked to see if you have any profiles saved with conflicting colourspaces.
Then check to see if any of the DynamicVP rules call on any profiles

Just a thought anyway

I have NOT set up any DynamicVP rules or profiles. Just using it with the basic settings. It continued to color shift when changing programs on my HD TIVO last night.

Are most of you using HDMI inputs to the CII or component? I've got 4 HDMI, 3 Component (XBOX360, Gamecube, WII), and 1 SDI in use.

I've got 3 hdmi sources, 1 component and 1 sdi (and one composite - Wii :(). However none of my HDMI sources have HDCP.

I've got 3 hdmi sources, 1 component and 1 sdi (and one composite - Wii :(). However none of my HDMI sources have HDCP.

ALL of my HDMI sources are HDCP.

I have NOT set up any DynamicVP rules or profiles. Just using it with the basic settings. It continued to color shift when changing programs on my HD TIVO last night.

Are most of you using HDMI inputs to the CII or component? I've got 4 HDMI, 3 Component (XBOX360, Gamecube, WII), and 1 SDI in use.

I use only one and sometimes two HDMI (HDCP) inputs and one SDI on the CII. I do not experience any of the problems you report.

I am using all 4 HDMIs and 2 components (XBOX 360 and Panny for 480i SD dvds)....

lorelevitt, sorry to hear about the problems you are having with the CII. Please keep us posted on the outcome. I have heard that the support given by PMS is quite good. Let's hope that they resolve your issues.

I heard from Nelson at PMS a few minutes after I emailed him. They have provided all the info for me to RMA the CII back to them. I'll be shipping it off tonight.

Keep us updated on how it goes...

I also have a new unit on the way from PM. Should have it Monday, and will report back if it fixes my problems.

Hey guys,

I was watching Mission Impos. III last night and wanted to ask if anybody else, that has seen it, saw the jaggies in the Vatican scene with the long stairs?

I have done color adjustments, but have not touch anything else.

Can anybody tell me what i need to adjust to help fix that problem?

Thanks,

Chris

Hey guys,

I was watching Mission Impos. III last night and wanted to ask if anybody else, that has seen it, saw the jaggies in the Vatican scene with the long stairs?

I have done color adjustments, but have not touch anything else.

Can anybody tell me what i need to adjust to help fix that problem?

Thanks,

Chris

What is your set up? You have a CII? The source was a DVD or TV? HD/BR or SD? What display device do you have? How are you connecting the devices in your set up?

I heard from Nelson at PMS a few minutes after I emailed him. They have provided all the info for me to RMA the CII back to them. I'll be shipping it off tonight.

This really moves on UPS International Express. I shipped it off last evening and it will be at PMS in Hong Kong TOMORROW!

Oops, i forgot to write the important stuff. :p

I was watching it on DVD (OPPO970) it goes into the CII (HDMI) then output (Analog) into HDTV VGA.



What is your set up? You have a CII? The source was a DVD or TV? HD/BR or SD? What display device do you have? How are you connecting the devices in your set up?

This really moves on UPS International Express. I shipped it off last evening and it will be at PMS in Hong Kong TOMORROW!Just in case enquiring minds want to know... My CII went back by UPS Worldwide Expedited which promises 2 or 3 day delivery to Hong Kong. The $242 shipping included $47 for Service Options (aka Insurance) and a $20 Fuel Surcharge!

I was watching Mission Impos. III last night and wanted to ask if anybody else, that has seen it, saw the jaggies in the Vatican scene with the long stairs?

No doubt about it. It's an authoring problem of the title. The jaggies also appears in the bridge blow up scene alone the long bridge edge. The DVD looks very sharp. My guess is they forgot to do some vertical filtering in some scene with fine vertical detail. Or they simply screw up during the DVD mastering.

The Blu-ray and HD-DVD version are fine though! :D

regards,

Li On

When I ordered my unit I had it nearly 30 hours later. They are fast! :eek:

When I ordered my unit I had it nearly 30 hours later. They are fast! :eek:

Fortunately PMS is picking put the tab for the return shipping under warranty-- it costs about $ 385 to ship ONE-WAY via UPS EXPRESS International to Hong Kong. I don't know what I will do if there are hardware problems after the warranty ends--it could get very costly for repairs. Its too bad repairs are not done at their US office-- but that appears to just be sales.

BTW-- anybody know if the new GENNUM chip is pin-for-pin compatible with the current one-- i.e. like some microprocessors -- the old one could be pulled and the new one inserted with just a firmware update needed?

That is good to know. I was thinking that the shipping to Hong Kong, was a real downside to this product, vs the other manufacturers, but nice to know they are taking care of you.

I wonder if they have any plans to implement at least some sort of a repair center in the US? I would think they get a large portion of their sales here, probably all on AVS. :)

That is good to know. I was thinking that the shipping to Hong Kong, was a real downside to this product, vs the other manufacturers, but nice to know they are taking care of you.

I wonder if they have any plans to implement at least some sort of a repair center in the US? I would think they get a large portion of their sales here, probably all on AVS. :)

I think that no matter how good a product is or consciencious a company is, any microelectronic-based product is going to have some failure rate. Either due to occasional bad components provided by the supplier, damage due to transport/shipping, or something missed in the design of a product with such complexity.

I think that PMS has acted both in good faith and with exceptional speed and concern that I have their unit for my use and that I am a satisfied customer. I applaud their customer service so far. :)

However with the very high shipping cost between the US and HK or bet. Europe and HK, etc., it would be nice if we could find a more local spot to send the unit in for repair. For now, I can't complain about it going back to HK as long as they are handling the cost. The speed has only been a couple of days via UPS Express so its as fast if not faster than a shipment within CONUS.

Li On

Am still working on HDR HDMI output to Cll but another glitch occurred today. 20 minutes into a DVD the screen suddenly split into vertical bands about 5 inches wide (I have a Ruby and a 100" screen)with the alternating bands in distorted color. I turned off the Cll the turned it back on. Bands were gone but red color was missing. Turned it off and on again and problem went away. Any ideas?


This is interesting because I have seen this problem with my CII consistently when EITHER switching between HDMI inputs or just selecting different programs (in different resolutions) to play off of my TIVO HD Series 3 unit. Power cycling usually gets rid of the problem but sometimes I have to both power cycle both the source input and the CII for the HDMI handshake to re-establish.

I just recieved my replacement C2 today, and unfortunately, it has the exact same problem as the old one. I ran it through my test recording of CSI NY, and get the same blue screens, and freezes, that the first unit had, so it appears that this issue is in all the units. :(

I just recieved my replacement C2 today, and unfortunately, it has the exact same problem as the old one. I ran it through my test recording of CSI NY, and get the same blue screens, and freezes, that the first unit had, so it appears that this issue is in all the units. :(

All I can tell you is that at least one of the units does not have this issue: mine.

Jack, I can't remember, do you have an HD Directivo?

I just recieved my replacement C2 today, and unfortunately, it has the exact same problem as the old one. I ran it through my test recording of CSI NY, and get the same blue screens, and freezes, that the first unit had, so it appears that this issue is in all the units. :(

I just received an email from Li On at PMS. I was arranging to return my unit and he asked me to sit tight as they are still working on the problem.

Jack, I can't remember, do you have an HD Directivo?

I have the stand alone TIVO S3.

I was having issues with the S3, but haven't seen them in a while. My HD Directivo, on the other hand, provides a signal that can trigger this problem. I think it is something that requires just the right type of signal to cause the glitch, and the HDDirectivo is really good at it. It doesn't, however cause problems, unless it is going through the C2, so I still think it is at least half the C2's fault.

I was having issues with the S3, but haven't seen them in a while. My HD Directivo, on the other hand, provides a signal that can trigger this problem. I think it is something that requires just the right type of signal to cause the glitch, and the HDDirectivo is really good at it. It doesn't, however cause problems, unless it is going through the C2, so I still think it is at least half the C2's fault.

Well I'm sorry you are having all these problems but it's good to put them out there. It helps everyone.

I don't have those problems (or really any) with my C2 either...

MERRY CHRISTMAS the new firmware version 2.0 just came out!!! This allows Picture in Picture and picture by picture!:eek: Also customizable 1080p output timing. And Enhanced HDMI audio handling. And not to mention MACRO commands for these new additions as well! It's going to be a FUN Holiday season!!! :)

version 2.0 firmware: My first impression is that the change between TV channels is crisper--less delay but still not instantaneous. I think that is understandable--especially when the resolution of the two channels is different; it just takes a second to switch to the new resolution. I haven't played with any of the other new features. Can't really imagine that I will use PIP.

version 2.0 firmware: My first impression is that the change between TV channels is crisper--less delay but still not instantaneous. I think that is understandable--especially when the resolution of the two channels is different; it just takes a second to switch to the new resolution. I haven't played with any of the other new features. Can't really imagine that I will use PIP.

I'm waiting to get my CII back from HK. However I agree that I don't see much use for PIP at all. I will probably never use it.

What I would really like to see is a real-time split screen function where one side is UNPROCESSED/Passthru and the other side is with all the processing that one has set for that stream on the CII. This way as I make any changes to any values I can immediately see their effect on the datastream. I'm surprised that more folks have not asked for this tuning/testing feature vice PIP.

I'm waiting to get my CII back from HK. However I agree that I don't see much use for PIP at all. I will probably never use it.

What I would really like to see is a real-time split screen function where one side is UNPROCESSED/Passthru and the other side is with all the processing that one has set for that stream on the CII. This way as I make any changes to any values I can immediately see their effect on the datastream. I'm surprised that more folks have not asked for this tuning/testing feature vice PIP.


IIRC some of the problems you encountered might be addressed by this version--at least combined with your new unit.

I guess it would be nice to have a split screen function with processed and unprocessed. The Mosquito has that and it is quite handy but the changes that the M makes are pretty subtle so it is more necessary there. You should suggest it over at the PMS site.

Oh I was starting from v 1.30a and the upgrade took less than 15 minutes which is a big improvement from previous upgrades. And they got the names of the files correct this time so that the CII recognized the files without having to change the names as was the case on the other FW updates. I could never understand how PMS didn't fix that.

I won't be able to check out new firmware until tonight, but does anyone know if it addresses the Tivo blue screen dropouts or the DVD vertical bar distortion?

I won't be able to check out new firmware until tonight, but does anyone know if it addresses the Tivo blue screen dropouts or the DVD vertical bar distortion?

I can't help you there because I haven't experienced either of those problems with my TIVO S3 or my DVD player.

I guess it would be nice to have a split screen function with processed and unprocessed. The Mosquito has that and it is quite handy but the changes that the M makes are pretty subtle so it is more necessary there. You should suggest it over at the PMS site.

Hi Jack-- I posted the suggestion on the PMS site under future enhancements wanted thread.-- Thanks.

I won't be able to check out new firmware until tonight, but does anyone know if it addresses the Tivo blue screen dropouts or the DVD vertical bar distortion?

I was given instructions by PM to try a special beta firmware version instead of 2.0 to see if it fixes the blue screen issue. Unfortunately it did not help my situation. I have asked if I should load 2.0 instead.

I was given instructions by PM to try a special beta firmware version instead of 2.0 to see if it fixes the blue screen issue. Unfortunately it did not help my situation. I have asked if I should load 2.0 instead.

I thought that special beta included additional logging so that they could download the logs and see what is going on with your machine.

I love PiP and P by P! Now I can play video games with the Xbox 360 and keep an eye on a college game. Life is almost to good! :eek:

I thoguht that special beta included additional logging so that they could download the logs and see what is going on with your machine.

Don't know about that, they didn't say, but it gave me special controls to adjust cable eq etc. So far I have not found a setting that works.

I love PiP and P by P! Now I can play video games with the Xbox 360 and keep an eye on a college game. Life is almost to good! :eek:

PBP just means that the two pictures split the screen?

Exactly!^^^ The 2 sources...

Well, I put the new features to the test last nite. I am glad to report they work great for me! My family wanted to watch a Christmas movie lastnite (it's that time of year now I guess) so I was able to get the movie ready and at the same time watch the Packers/Vikings game. I was able to see the ending as they came in and sat down! I easily turned off the PiP mode and began the movie. Usually my Wife would ask where is the movie when she would come in and sit down (especially after I had 20 minutes or so to get it ready) but not this time. When she came in I had switched the screens so the game was considerably smaller in the right lower corner. She was excited to see it on the screen still paused at the beginning! I was excited to see the last play and everyone walking off the field... Very cool! Now my Wife can't complain the movies aren't ready anymore! Thanks PMS! :D

I just got my 3800 yesterday and playing with it. I cannot output pcm 5.1 from my ps3 if I do

ps3 --> HDMI 1 --> HDMI 1 outut to my projector and HDMI2 to my Pioneer Elite 82tsi, I got 5.1 sould ok just not PCM5.1

however I can get psm5.1 if I connect ps3 --> Pioneer 82(HDMI) --> HDMI1 of 3800-->projector.

Is this normal? or I am missing some settings?

thanks
Mike

I heard from Nelson at PMS a few minutes after I emailed him. They have provided all the info for me to RMA the CII back to them. I'll be shipping it off tonight.

I have to say that PMS has provided OUTSTANDING customer support to me on my VP. They also wanted to insure that I had it back from Hong Kong for the holidays. They shipped it out on Thursday from Honk Kong on Thursday and it was delivered by UPS to me this morning (Saturday!) in Maryland. I didn't expect it so soon so I'll have to hook it up later since I'm off Christmas shopping.

PMS & Nelson's assistance stand in STARK contrast to the terrible customer service I received from DVDO on their VP50. DVDO as most have noted on this web site didn't return emails, made promises of repair/replacement and kept putting me off when a unit would be returned, and finally after nearly a month I told them to keep it and am very glad I purchased the VP3300 instead.

Thanks again to Nelson and PMS for outstanding customer service and response time. DVDO could learn alot from you how you treat your customers-- including the quality of interaction you provide on the PMS forums!

I agree with you, re: the PM customer service, and due to the support I have recieved, and observed others recieve, I have decided to go the extra mile in helping them out. I have decided to send them my HR10-250, so that they can troubleshoot some of the blue screen issues that some users have experienced.

I am a bit hesitant to send something so hard to replace, especially out of the country, but I am confident in PM support, that I will get it back.

I know you will get it back. And not to pile on DVDO but whatever happened to my rack ears and usb to serial cable? :D I still never received them... :eek:

I've read the enire Crystalio II thread and have an answer for all those with technical problems and other gliches: Offer Joerod an offer he can't refuse and buy his unit. Seems to be about the only one here without issues.

To be fair, everyone has a different configuration, equipment, etc. Would be interesting for someone with exactly the same equipment configuration as Joerod to report their experience.

TA

I am using pretty much what I was before. DTHEATER (JVCHM5 U), a Panny Blu ray (soon Pioneer) a Toshiba XA1 (soon XA2) and still thru my HDMI inputs on my Onkyo TX1000 then out to the crystalio II I have a HR20 DVR and HR10-250. I don't know if it's just luck or the right combo but I am not having any issues (knock on wood of course)... :)

I've read the enire Crystalio II thread and have an answer for all those with technical problems and other gliches: Offer Joerod an offer he can't refuse and buy his unit. Seems to be about the only one here without issues.

To be fair, everyone has a different configuration, equipment, etc. Would be interesting for someone with exactly the same equipment configuration as Joerod to report their experience.

TA

No he's not the only with with no issues. I don't have any either. I'm using my 3800 with an Algolith Mosquito, a TIVO S3, a Denon 3910 SDI-modded, and a Samsung Blu-Ray player. The monitor is a Panasonic 65 inch plasma.

I thnk it is really useful for everyone when people post their questions and issues but I also think that sometimes we have to remind ourselves that we should be careful in drawing general conclusions from these discussions. When people are having problems they come on line and a lot of times they will do a lot of posts back and forth searching for solutions. People who are not having problems tend to post less. So it gives the impression that there are a lot of problems with a product or that "everyone" is having the same problems.

Actually, I think Joerod IS unusual but it is because he posts to tell everyone he is not having problems. Mostly people don't do that.

Not to jump further on the "no problem band wagon" but my neighbor does not have any issues either and he is using a HD comcast cablebox with his and the sony blu ray player. Also he has the Toshiba HD A1. And he uses a yamaha receiver as well... Just thought I would mention another happy customer that I know personally... :)

I know you will get it back. And not to pile on DVDO but whatever happened to my rack ears and usb to serial cable? :D I still never received them... :eek:

They sent me mine after I asked for them.

I called them and emailed them twice but still no luck... They should just admit that it is a typo and they are not included...

Actually, I think Joerod IS unusual but it is because he posts to tell everyone he is not having problems. Mostly people don't do that.
Right. Ever since I bought the C2 3300 I have had very few issues, and only early on, so I don't post in this area of the forum too often these days. Presently I have a pretty complex setup and the C2 is handling everything very well with no issues at all. I can't imagine owning a better processor.

I discovered another issue over the weekend. I was using DVE to calibrate my projector, and as I navigated through the menu system, the image kept going to blue screen and displaying no signal. This became very frustrating, and made it almost impossible to use the disc.

I was using an Onkyo SP1000, outputting 480p into the C2 via HDMI. I have never had this issue before with this disc or player. I then popped the disc into my Toshiba HD-A1 and the colors were all wonky. Everything was red. This is something I have seen before with other discs, and the C2 but it usually fixed itself within a couple of seconds. This time it would not go away. Finally, after switching inputs a couple of times, it was normal again.

I am using firmware V2.0.

Anyone else have Digital Video Essentials to test this out??

I do and I will test it out today...

I discovered another issue over the weekend. I was using DVE to calibrate my projector, and as I navigated through the menu system, the image kept going to blue screen and displaying no signal. This became very frustrating, and made it almost impossible to use the disc.

I was using an Onkyo SP1000, outputting 480p into the C2 via HDMI. I have never had this issue before with this disc or player. I then popped the disc into my Toshiba HD-A1 and the colors were all wonky. Everything was red. This is something I have seen before with other discs, and the C2 but it usually fixed itself within a couple of seconds. This time it would not go away. Finally, after switching inputs a couple of times, it was normal again.

I am using firmware V2.0.

Anyone else have Digital Video Essentials to test this out??

I haven't used DVE since I first got my new plasma two months ago but when I did use it I didn't notice any problem. At the time I was using the version of the CII firmware that came with the machine. I don't remember the number but it was maybe 1.19.

I see no such problem with DVE on my Oppo 970HD, both 480i and 480p over HDMI display just fine during menu navigation. Firmware 2.00.

Oh it's probably worth mentioning that I used DVE on a DVD player that was connected to the CII via SDI.

I just hooked up the Second C2 3800, that I have, to see if it is any different than the first one, and was able to re-create the same issue. When navigating DVE, go into the reference materials, and select one of the display patterns. There is a flash, and blue screen then the pattern comes up. Navigating back into the menu, and the image is lost again, for a brief second, and the blue screen appears.

Both of my Crystallio's (well actually I only own one, I just have an extra temporarily until it goes back) do the exact same thing, as they do the same with the blue flashes on the Tivo.

When navigating DVE, go into the reference materials, and select one of the display patterns. There is a flash, and blue screen then the pattern comes up.
Works fine for me.

Same here. I tested it with both my Panny Blu ray player over component 480i and then 1080i HDMi then with the XA1 over HDMI at 1080i...

I called them and emailed them twice but still no luck... They should just admit that it is a typo and they are not included...

It still don't change the fact, that after I emailed them about it. That they sent me both the rack ears and the serial to USB adaptor. It's looks like they made a mistake and did not include them if the first batchs of VP50's sent out, but they did send them to more than just a few people that asked for them. So yes, I do think you are only doing nothing more than "bashing" them here about it.

I think they are still doing false advertising. They are still sending out their units without them! And I know plenty of people who NEVER received them... The checks in the mail... :)

I think they are still doing false advertising. They are still sending out their units without them! And I know plenty of people who NEVER received them... The checks in the mail...

Well they sent them to me, and I received them. So I can more than just disagree with you about it.

Well they sent them to me, and I received them. So I can more than just disagree with you about it.Ditto here

Great! There's 2 AVS members who received them. You know the more you post about it the longer the "bashing" continues. I don't consider it "bashing" when it still is happening anyway! :rolleyes: It's not right to say something (in this case 2 items) is INCLUDED and then not be in the box. It is also not right to not ship them when customers email or call in their serial numbers to their customer service. Of course it is also not right to release a new model which is still plaqued with the same audio dropouts as the previous (vp30) but that's another subject... ;)

Great! There's 2 AVS members who received them. You know the more you post about it the longer the "bashing" continues. I don't consider it "bashing" when it still is happening anyway! :rolleyes: It's not right to say something (in this case 2 items) is INCLUDED and then not be in the box. It is also not right to not ship them when customers email or call in their serial numbers to their customer service. Of course it is also not right to release a new model which is still plaqued with the same audio dropouts as the previous (vp30) but that's another subject... ;)Couldn't agree more with what you said Joe, but I don't think that not shipping these promised items is a make or break deal when making a choice between the C2 or VP30/50. But, it certainly points to a serious lack of understanding on the part of DVDO wrt customer relations!!.

It's for that reason in particular that I'm keenly following this thread. If DVDO don't pull themselves out of the current very lukewarm responsiveness to their customers, I will certainly be one to switch or turn away from them. If (or when) the C2 is finally completed with a fully functional HD media player module, I will be very tempted to buy one. Until then, I'll just sit on the fence and see how it progresses.

By all means I do not want to turn this into a VP50 missing items thread so getting back on topic I just wanted to post that the crystalio II came in handy this past weekend for Holiday gatherings. First on Friday we used it to play the same HD DVD title in the theater as well as in the bar! My guests were very surprised and impressed. Then Saturday it came in handy when my nieces and nephews wanted to play the xbox 360 for awhile. I split the screen so they could play on one half while we could watch tv on the other half. Now that was nice! Then Christmas night we watched A Christmas Story on HD DVD. My wife commented how good the picture looked (then of course she followed by saying oh no, I am starting to sound like you!). And then of course Christmas Vacation looked impressive as well. I know even on the HD DVD version there is still slight noise but using the crystalio II I was able to use the NR feature (on low) which made a world of difference(same for The Grinch HD DVD)! And then I am still remembering how good Love Actually looked on DTHEATER. That was probably the most impressive Christmas title we watched in HD this year! :)

Back on track here. :) I guess my problem stems, once again, from the type of signal that is coming out of a specific DVD player (in this case the SP1000) being a hair unstable, and triggering a weakness that exists within the Crystallio. I am sure it is related to the same issue with Tivo, and certain shows that have flashes, or abrupt changes.

Back on track here. :) I guess my problem stems, once again, from the type of signal that is coming out of a specific DVD player (in this case the SP1000) being a hair unstable, and triggering a weakness that exists within the Crystallio. I am sure it is related to the same issue with Tivo, and certain shows that have flashes, or abrupt changes.

Free,
You really do seem to have had horrendous luck with the CII and it's a shame. All I can say is that I have the TIVO S3 and I just haven't noticed any of these problems. I don't know how to explain it.

Jack, to be fair, it happens more on my HD Directivo, but I have seen it on the S3, with certain CSI episodes. Do you watch CSI?

Jack, to be fair, it happens more on my HD Directivo, but I have seen it on the S3, with certain CSI episodes. Do you watch CSI?

I don't watch CSI avidly but I have watched some episodes in the last few months and I didn't have the problem you report.

Well.... keep watching. It doesn't happen on every episode. Only now and then. I think it is just because I never miss an episode that I am able to catch it happening.

Well.... keep watching. It doesn't happen on every episode. Only now and then. I think it is just because I never miss an episode that I am able to catch it happening.

Well to tell you the truth I don't want to see it happen. :D

I don't blame you one bit, for feeling that way. :)

Good news for those affected by the lack of AR flexibility of the CII (or any other scalers out there) who have a requirement to view HD DVD and BD on a constant height screen:

PowerDVD Deluxe works with YXY on a HDPC (High Definition PC) TO GIVE YOU COMPLETE AND TOTAL AR CONTROL FOR BOTH HD DVD AND BD.

Check out the HTPC section of AVS for more info.

Vern

Normally I would post this on the PMS forum, but I haven't been able to get in to it recently (anyone else or just my ISP?). Anyway, with the new firmware release 2.00 on a 3800, I have not figured out how to make PIP work. I can get in to the settings for PIP in the System menu, but nothing I do actually results in PIP. The closest I can get to PIP is choosing "swap pictures" or whatever it says, which results in the entire picture changing to what should be showing in the PIP window. Anyone else having problems? Is there a key on the remote that pulls up a PIP, or does one really have to delve into the System menu in order to pull it up? Obviously a macro would work, but....

Anyway, any help would be much appreciated!

Happy holidays.

EDIT: Evidently the recent earthquake near Taiwan disrupted all six major undersea fiber optic cables and knocked out internet for much of Asia, which is probably why the PMS site is struggling.

I recieved my replacement Tivo, and hooked it up today. The HDMI port on this one works, so I was able to test both. The HDMI output was fine with the C2, but the component output, causes the same blue flashes that I experienced on my other one.

i wish someone would answer a few first grade questions. these are likely my last before taking the plunge into high end vp, that is if i hear the right esponses.
is the C2 able to take the signal from a cheap cable set top box and output the game at 1080p? or do the same for a my old vcr? or my velodyne subwoofer or my denon receiver set up menu? or will i find myself having to spend more on new sources?
also, how are people who have hddvd or blueray getting your feed into the C2 and also into your sound processor?

thanks,

darryl

OK--I guess its time for me to chime in again. I just got my CII back from PMS since it had a problem with an SDI input terminal. I have been having the SAME problems with my Tivo HD Series 3 and the CII as well. I have attached a photo I took this morning of the screen.

It appears to me that if the TIVO is set to output native and I am watching a 480i program OR the TIVO is set to output hybrid which will produce a 480p video from 480i, the CII jumps into this corrupted image mode. I am feeding my TIVO to HDMI 1 input on the CII.

Its interesting that when I shift the TIVO into its menu when this happens, and the menu is at 720p, the corruption disappears but as soon as I go back to what is playing at 480i or 480p, the corruption is immediately present.

If the TIVO is set to output 1080i all the time-- i.e. it does all the upscaling and in the case of 720p its deinterlacing to 1080i, I don't see the problem.

We clearly need more help with debugging this communications problem between the TIVO and the CII. If I have to have to TIVO do my scaling, where is the full benefit of the CII??

Lore

We clearly need more help with debugging this communications problem between the TIVO and the CII.
If you've read posts on the PMS forum, you'll have seen that this problem occurs with multiple input devices, not just the S3. Hopefully PMS will respond about it soon.

I have contacted PM to let them know that I am ready to send my Tivo to them, to help them de-bug this. I have also loaded more program material, on the Tivo, that causes issues to help them. For the Blue Screen flashes, I have found that the "Nothing But Trailers" show on HDNet is a good trigger.

As soon as I hear back from them (probably next week) I will get it to them so we can get to the bottom of this.

I have contacted PM to let them know that I am ready to send my Tivo to them, to help them de-bug this. I have also loaded more program material, on the Tivo, that causes issues to help them. For the Blue Screen flashes, I have found that the "Nothing But Trailers" show on HDNet is a good trigger.

As soon as I hear back from them (probably next week) I will get it to them so we can get to the bottom of this.

Thanks Phil!

is the C2 able to take the signal from a cheap cable set top box and output the game at 1080p?

Yes, as long as the cheap cable box is HDCP compliant (if you are connecting via HDMI or DVI).


or do the same for a my old vcr?

So you'd be going into the CII via composite, correct? I don't see why it wouldn't work.

or my velodyne subwoofer or my denon receiver set up menu?
Should be no problem. I'm doing that with my surround processor menu and there are no issues.

or will i find myself having to spend more on new sources?
It's hard to predict or make a general statement about every source device. The main problem that occurs is if you want to use digital connections and one of your source devices has an odd implementation of HDCP but that is not the CII's fault. That happens all the time with HDMI given the wonderful HDCP protocols and the way manufacturers have implemented--or not.

also, how are people who have hddvd or blueray getting your feed into the C2 and also into your sound processor?

I've been playing around with a Samsung BR player. I've conneted it directly to the CII and also run it through an Algolith Mosquito first (both via HDMI) with no problems. I've seen no problems with sound either running coax from the BR to my surround processor.

Caveat: if you read through this thread and the one on the Pixel magic forum you will see that some people have experienced complications.

Just an update, my Tivo is on its way to China for some troubleshooting. :)

Just an update, my Tivo is on its way to China for some troubleshooting. :)

Phil,

Thanks for the sacrifice you've made for us. My 14-yr old would kill me if I sent off our TIVO HD.

Lore

also, how are people who have hddvd or blueray getting your feed into the C2 and also into your sound processor?



I'm running BluRay into the CII via HDMI without any problems. Currently I'm using coax audio from the CII into my audio pre-pro, which is also working flawlessly.

I'm running BluRay into the CII via HDMI without any problems. Currently I'm using coax audio from the CII into my audio pre-pro, which is also working flawlessly.
that works, great, but the question is, are you getting high definition audio?

that works, great, but the question is, are you getting high definition audio?

Sadly, I have no idea what I'm talking about. My pre-pro doesn't have an HDMI in and it isn't clear to me that one can transmit LPCM via coax (I think the answer is no, but I'm not sure). I think that if you run HDMI out of the CII into an audio processor with that capability, you'd get LPCM. But, as I said, I have no idea what I'm talking about. Every time I think I'm clear on this subject, I slowly begin to realize that I know even less than I thought I did.

Hi
As an existing DVDO-VP50 who is considering replacing it with the C-II, I found this thread very interesting. I would need to decide without having a chance to ‘test’ the C-II first with my equipment, as no one is importing it to where I live. I will also not be able to (easily) return it, if after I bought it I found out I didn’t like it. So I will need to be pretty sure before pulling the trigger. The level of excitement on this thread has certainly encouraged me to make up my mind.

It will be connected to two displays – a Sharp 21000 projector and a Pioneer 5000EX Plasma (both with native 1080P resolution). The sources are a Denon DVD-A1XVA (that does a very good job upscaling to 1080P on its own merit), an HTPC, a Cable box (SD only) and an XBOX360. In the near future I’m likely to add a PS3 and an HD or Blueray player (or actually both...). Few of the sources would be connected directly to the C2 and few switched through the amp (a Denon AVC-A1XVA) mostly to get OSD of the Amp overlaid as I sometime need it, although I may end up not switching video through the amp and doing all that through the video processor, and using the amp only for audio processing, as I saw some posts (not in this thread) advise.

I’ve got some things I think I’ll benefit from by switching from the VP50 to the C-II, and few things I’m unsure of. So it turned out to be a long post, my apology if it’s too long.

I wanted to check my rationale with you, prior to making the move. So my main reasons are:
1. Desire to get the best PQ – I am happy with what the VP50 does, but saw other (past) VP50 owners say here that the C-II offers a better PQ. I mainly use the VP50 today to upscale & fix my SD cable-box signal (which in its native form is just un-viewable on a FHD display or PJ) but more on that later.
2. At the moment I have the signal the VP50 outputs go through an HDMI splitter, to send the signal to both displays (the PJ & Plasma). In addition my HTPC is not connected through the VP50, but directly to both displays this time through another splitter (DVI splitter here). I understand that with the C-II, I will be able to use the two HDMI outputs and connect one to each display, removing the need of the two splitters which I find ‘not elegant’ at the moment.
3. Ability to handle a single HDMI input source with different rules. At the moment the signals switched through the Amp are output from the Amp via an HDMI cable into the VP-50 HDMI1 input. Which means that it’s the same input source, that could receive completely different signals, as I switch them through the Amp. I understand that with the C-II I’ll be able to define ‘conditions’ that would allow triggering different profiles to the same input, depending on which incoming signal I get – sounds very useful.
4. The new PIP in firmware 2.0 – this cool addition was the thing that got me started with rationalizing to myself why I “need” the C-II. Just sounds cool (read:useful) to have for example on a 110” PJ screen showing a movie another small HTPC screen to follow other things, especially if I’ll route that source audio to a wireless headset or something

So the above are the things I expect I’ll get (am I right?) through switching to the C-II and now few things I’m unsure of:

1. I read some complaints about lack of discrete remote codes for example for switching inputs. I’d like the C-II to be as transparent as the VP50 – everything operated through a learning remote (in my case, a Marantz RC9500) with the ability to switch inputs without being at all aware the VP exists. I later saw some other posts that it is possible through macros but that there’s some screen display when doing that. Is this still a real issue?
2. HTPC signal. At the moment my HTPC is connected directly to both displays (through the mentioned DVI splitter) and not going through the DVDO-VP50. The HTPC ‘s resolution is 1080P. The HTPC is the main source of my HD viewing, with a large library of TS HD movies. What’s the recommended approach with an HTPC signal? Should it be routed through the C-II (at a low resolution?) allowing the C-II to enhance the HD movies I see through it? Or if a PC signal doesn’t lend itself to being optimized by a video-processor, I trust I can have the signal ‘pass-through’ again to remove the need of a DVI splitter and have everything routed and switched through the C-II. I hope there’s some benefit of the C-II to a PC signal as well, as the majority of my film viewing at the moment, both to the PJ and the FHD Plasma is of TS HD movies from the HTPC.
3. Lip sync. One of my frustrations with the DVDO-VP50 (which I assume can be solved with better setup on my side) is lip-syncing with the delay it produces when it processes the picture. Because it has only one optical output, I only use it to sync one of my sources (the SD cable box). I have the cable box send PCM audio to the VP50 through the Optic line, and then use the Optic out of the VP50 into the Amp – so this signal’s (and only this signal) audio is automatically synchronized by the VP50 to match the delay its video processing took. For my other sources (for example my DVD) – I have the DVD-A1XVA send audio to the amp through Denon-Link, Video to the Amp via HDMI, the Amp then outputs the video to the VP50 and from there through an HDMI splitter to the Plasma & PJ – and of course there’s lip-sync issues which I’ve solved by manually tweaking the Amp’s lipsync setting not being quite sure about a ms here or there. I suppose one solution would be to use the Amp to not switch anything (Audio or Video), and have all sources output their sound through the single Optic out of the VP50, into the Amp that will remain fixed on the same source, and the VP will switch both video & audio. That would probably work but it sounds kind of odd to turn an Amp into a sound decoding & amplification entity only. Which I guess maybe only in my mind and is the right thing to do regardless of this being a VP50 or C-II. I’m sure this is an old question that has an established answer to.

Sorry this turned out to be such a long post, these are questions I’ve been asking myself for some time now, I trust this is the right place to get passionate responses to. I would appreciate any feedback that could help me in making up my mind (actually I think I have already made up my mind, and I’m only looking for more reasons for my wife).

Shahar

1. I read some complaints about lack of discrete remote codes for example for switching inputs. I’d like the C-II to be as transparent as the VP50 – everything operated through a learning remote (in my case, a Marantz RC9500) with the ability to switch inputs without being at all aware the VP exists. I later saw some other posts that it is possible through macros but that there’s some screen display when doing that. Is this still a real issue?

The feature is fully supported. One can even assign a discrete remote key to perform a chain of actions.

2. HTPC signal. At the moment my HTPC is connected directly to both displays (through the mentioned DVI splitter) and not going through the DVDO-VP50. The HTPC ‘s resolution is 1080P. The HTPC is the main source of my HD viewing, with a large library of TS HD movies. What’s the recommended approach with an HTPC signal? Should it be routed through the C-II (at a low resolution?) allowing the C-II to enhance the HD movies I see through it? Or if a PC signal doesn’t lend itself to being optimized by a video-processor, I trust I can have the signal ‘pass-through’ again to remove the need of a DVI splitter and have everything routed and switched through the C-II. I hope there’s some benefit of the C-II to a PC signal as well, as the majority of my film viewing at the moment, both to the PJ and the FHD Plasma is of TS HD movies from the HTPC.

In addition to normal image processing or pass-through connection, if your TS HD movies use MPEG2 then a Crystalio II VPS3800 can directly access your PC media files for internal decode, playback and video processing for the best output quality.

3. Lip sync. One of my frustrations with the DVDO-VP50 (which I assume can be solved with better setup on my side) is lip-syncing with the delay it produces when it processes the picture. Because it has only one optical output, I only use it to sync one of my sources (the SD cable box). I have the cable box send PCM audio to the VP50 through the Optic line, and then use the Optic out of the VP50 into the Amp – so this signal’s (and only this signal) audio is automatically synchronized by the VP50 to match the delay its video processing took. For my other sources (for example my DVD) – I have the DVD-A1XVA send audio to the amp through Denon-Link, Video to the Amp via HDMI, the Amp then outputs the video to the VP50 and from there through an HDMI splitter to the Plasma & PJ – and of course there’s lip-sync issues which I’ve solved by manually tweaking the Amp’s lipsync setting not being quite sure about a ms here or there. I suppose one solution would be to use the Amp to not switch anything (Audio or Video), and have all sources output their sound through the single Optic out of the VP50, into the Amp that will remain fixed on the same source, and the VP will switch both video & audio. That would probably work but it sounds kind of odd to turn an Amp into a sound decoding & amplification entity only. Which I guess maybe only in my mind and is the right thing to do regardless of this being a VP50 or C-II. I’m sure this is an old question that has an established answer to.

You can connect all your source on the Crystalio and output audio via optical/coxial to your AV receiver for audio decode and process.

regards,

Li On

In addition to normal image processing or pass-through connection, if your TS HD movies use MPEG2 then a Crystalio II VPS3800 can directly access your PC media files for internal decode, playback and video processing for the best output quality.
regards,
Li OnHi Li-On.

I am one of those VP50 owners sitting on the fence. I would be greatly interested in the CII once the Media Player in the 3800 is finalised.

I'm currently using the Snazio 1350 HD Media Player. It gives excellent performance PQ wise and supports a multitude of file formats, but is alas somewhat unreliable - attempting to do anything else but straight forward PLAY mode, will often cause it to lock up.

I've had a close look at the brochures on the CII 3800, but apart from MPEG1/2/4 and MPEG-2 TS support, no mention is made of the formats listed below.

1. ISO
2. IFO/VOB,
3. MPG(MPEG-2MP@ML
4. MPEG-2MP@HL (High Def)
5. MPEG-4MP@ML
6. MPEG-4MP@HL (High Def)
7. WMV-9 HD
8. H264 up and coming HD broadcast standard
9. MP4
10. Xvid
11. Divx
9. Others?

What about picture formats?

1. JPG
2. PNG
3. GIF
4. BMP
5. Others?

What about Audio formats?

1. AC3
2. WAV
3. MP2
4. MP3
5. WMA
6. AAC
7. OGG
8. FLAC
9. Others?

What Server Software will be needed to enable access by the CII? Will it have uPnP AV or SMB connectivity? In other words, could I use my Infrant ReadyNas NV+ NAS Media Server or similar NAS with with built in Media Server SW to communicate with the CII?

How well will it support Playlist functionality? Will you be able to select Audio Files to accompany a Slide Show and will there be flexibility to have random or sorted picture file playback with random or sorted audio files? What about the other way around, i.e. have a Slide Show accompany an Audio play list, again with the ability to select random or sorted Pictures files?

And lastly, how effective and what will the range FF and FR modes? Many Media Players are pretty awfull at giving smooth performance excecuting these functions.

If all or most of these formats will be supported in the near future, it would certainly be a deal breaker for me.

I've posted these questions here on this Forum, rather than to you directly at Pixel Magic, as I think many others may be interested in the Media Player function of this VP which by all accounts seems to do an excellent job at its primary function of Video Processing.

Hi

I have a sharp 45GX6U lcd - 1080p thru dvi - and was wondering if anybody has successfully hooked up the crystalio 2 to this display with 1:1?

Also the C2 isn't HDMI 1.3 but can it pass thru the signal without processing eg. a ps3 hdmi 1.3 thru the C2 to a future hdmi 1.3 display ?

Thanks

About the Crystalio II VPS3800 internal Media Player feature, with the current 2.0 firmware, the following are supported:

- DVD ISO/IFO
- transport stream (TS) with MPEG2 video, AC3/MP2/AAC audio
- all forms of MPEG2 video media file

Xvid/Divx and WMV9 may be supported in firmware update. Any kind of 264 video codec is not supported due to hardware limitation.

MP3/WAV audio media file playback is supported with current firmware. Other audio media file such as FLAC, Ogg may be supported with firmware update.

Photo/slideshow (JPG/BMP etc) is not yet supported with current firmware and may be supported with firmware update.

NFS (Network File System) supported for network streaming. The Infrant NAS should work in NFS with the Crystalio II. The Crystalio II internal harddrive is read/write accessable using FTP through network.

Only the usual repeat track, repeat all, random playback. No "playlist" feature with the current firmware yet.

regards,

Li On

Hi

I have a sharp 45GX6U lcd - 1080p thru dvi - and was wondering if anybody has successfully hooked up the crystalio 2 to this display with 1:1?

Also the C2 isn't HDMI 1.3 but can it pass thru the signal without processing eg. a ps3 hdmi 1.3 thru the C2 to a future hdmi 1.3 display ?

Thanks

Yes to both questions! :)

regards,

Li On

About the Crystalio II VPS3800 internal Media Player feature, with the current 2.0 firmware, the following are supported:

- DVD ISO/IFO
- transport stream (TS) with MPEG2 video, AC3/MP2/AAC audio
- all forms of MPEG2 video media file

Xvid/Divx and WMV9 may be supported in firmware update. Any kind of 264 video codec is not supported due to hardware limitation.

MP3/WAV audio media file playback is supported with current firmware. Other audio media file such as FLAC, Ogg may be supported with firmware update.

Photo/slideshow (JPG/BMP etc) is not yet supported with current firmware and may be supported with firmware update.

NFS (Network File System) supported for network streaming. The Infrant NAS should work in NFS with the Crystalio II. The Crystalio II internal harddrive is read/write accessable using FTP through network.

Only the usual repeat track, repeat all, random playback. No "playlist" feature with the current firmware yet.

regards,

Li OnThanks Li-ON - looks like a little wait yet before we know exactly what will be supported.

The Infrant NAS should work in NFS with the Crystalio II

this works fine :)

Li-On,

What's the progress with the software fix for the Tivo Blue Screen problem so many of us are having.

I am not Li-On, but I can say that they have my Tivo, have seen the issue, and are working on it. :)

By the way, somehow, my Tivo broke during shipment, and the marvelous tech's at PM were able to fix it, so that all my efforts to get it there, were not in vain.

An interesting thing happened to me this past weekend. On Friday, my SA 3800HD cable box broke (hard drive crashed). On Saturday, I returned it to Time Warner and exchanged it for a new SA 3800HD box, which as far as I can tell is identical to the old one, both hardware and software (the latter of which is updated from time to time at the whim of Time Warner). Upon returning home with the new box, I popped it in the same space formerly occupied by the old box and connected it in the same fashion with the same cables, etc.

The interesting thing here is that with the new box, I am experiencing a great many blue screen flashes. I only recall seeing one blue screen, one time, with the old box. Isn't that odd? Can anyone think of any reason why this might be the case?

PS--I see a CII for sale on Craigslist! No listed asking price.

I would say, check your cables, and make sure they are tight. I suspect that there is a signal strength issue with this particular problem. It may be that the output is weak (as I think is the issue with the component output of the Tivo) or it could just be that your cable is a little loose.

Yes to both questions! :)
You're saying the CII will successfully handshake with an HDMI 1.3 source with full 1.3 transmission capability as a result, rather than just 1.1 capability? Can you explain how that's possible?

The poster asked in "pass-through" mode which should work.

regards,

Li On

The poster asked in "pass-through" mode which should work.
I'm still curious how. The CII's EDID information will identity it as an HDMI 1.1 device, right? Are you assuming the 1.3 source will ignore this or have an override that forces 1.3 content?

Free,

Wow, that's quite an investment - I'm impressed!

Phil,

I'm using the MB200 (essentially just the media part of the C2) and it works quite nicely. Li-On's exactly right - these features are forthcoming and everything (except H264 and VC-1, which are not supported using the chipset used in the MB100/MB200/C2).

Firmware version 2.01 ready to go! :)

Firmware version 2.01 ready to go! :)

I haven't been able to determine if this update is meant to resolve the issue of the picture breaking up into vertical segments. Do you know?

I've received my Crystalio 2 days ago (still in its box but I should get to install it today), so I'll start by upgrading it to 2.01 and hopefuly thereby avoid some of the issues that have been raised in the Crystalio's support forum that sounded troubling.

I have not had this issue but I will ask them about it now... :)

I watched TV for a bit over an hour after installing v 2.01. The picture broke up into vertical segments one time for a few seconds but then resolved itself without turning the CII off and on which is the usual way I have cleared up the problem. After that one episode, which occurred just after I had installed the new FW, it did not happen again.

I never experienced this problem with the intensity reported by others, where they have to turn their CIIs off and on several times a day. I experienced one period where it was really bad for a few days but since then it has occurred infrequently. So I don't know what to think about the new FW at this point.

To a large extent influenced by this thread, I bought the VPS3800 and received it two days ago. I'm switching over from a DVDO VP50 I currently use, based on an expectation of getting an even better PQ with this unit. Its still in the box, I'm planning to install it today (after upgrading to 2.01 firmware).

I have a question on the media player part of it, and specificaly on NFS on Vista.
Reading the manual, it seems that in order to stream network files from my PC and from my 2*Bufallo 2TB NAS, I will need to install NFS support on my Vista Ultimate PC? On the MB200 forum over at Pixelmagic support site I found instructions for installing Unix Services for Windows to enable NFS support, but this is only supported by MS for Windows XP at this time and not on Vista as far as I could understand.

Are there other VISTA users here that use the media-player part of the VPS3800 to stream video files from their PC / NAS boxes and if so how is it done?

It seems (from web documentation) that my Bufallo 2TB storage do not support NFS which is what the VPS3800 requires so I suppose the way around it is to get NFS working on Vista, map the NAS as a drive in Vista, then enable NFS sharing through the PC to that mapped drive and map into it from the media-player part of the VP3800 - with the challenge being I'm not sure how to get NFS server running on Vista.

Any advice will be most welcome. I hope to have my first hand (or better yet, first eye) comparison of the PQ I get from the VPS3800 vs. the DVDO later today.

Thanks,
Shahar

ShaharT: I am afraid I cannot help you with your question but, I would like you to know that I am anxiously awaiting your mini review comparing the PQ from the C2 and the VP-50. Hope everything works out for you and perhaps your problem would be more quickly answered on the Pixel magic forums?

If you just got your unit chances are it already has 2.01 installed....

ShaharT,

You'll need a stand alone NFS program. I have PM's MB200, which has the same issue.

I haven't found a cheap or free NFS software to test with, though :(

Hi Ofer LaOr,

If you have a PC with Windows NT to XP, you can try Microsoft Service for Unix (SFU) from Microsoft site. There is a setup guide on PMS forum.

For commerical software the ProNFS has a trial period to test with. It may even work with Vista.

regards,

Li On
www.pixelmagicsystems.com

I know this is very basic but I never mentioned the screen masking features and how nice they are. For example, on Valentines Day my wife asked me to make the BLACK bars PINK. I will admit changing their color to fit the mood or "holidays" is quite impressive. Now of course I prefer BLACK bars but someimes it is fun to change them up... :)

I'm wondering to what extent the CII is "future-proof (besides its upgradeable firmware)"? I've searched various forums, but I haven't been able to find a definitive answer as to whether the CII is hardware upgradeable (the latest Gennum chip and HDMI 1.3 come to mind) by returning the unit to the factory. If not, would PMS provide owners with an upgrade path (e.g., a trade-in allowance, similar to that which Lexicon always has offered to its owners)? I'm new to the product - was there a Crystalio I and were owners given the option of upgrading to a CII?

Many thanks!

I'm wondering to what extent the CII is "future-proof (besides its upgradeable firmware)"? I've searched various forums, but I haven't been able to find a definitive answer as to whether the CII is hardware upgradeable (the latest Gennum chip and HDMI 1.3 come to mind) by returning the unit to the factory. If not, would PMS provide owners with an upgrade path (e.g., a trade-in allowance, similar to that which Lexicon always has offered to its owners)? I'm new to the product - was there a Crystalio I and were owners given the option of upgrading to a CII?

Many thanks!

There has been some discussion about how/if the CII is upgradeable to HDMI 1.3 and the Gennum II chip. The most knowledgeable person I've seen ruminate on it was Madshi and, IIRC, he was skeptical that it could be done. I don't think there has been any definitive statement from PMS on the subject.

Yes there was a CI and, AFIK there was no upgrade option offered by PMS. In my case, I bought a CI and within a year bought a CII from the same dealer. The dealer gave me a better price because I had so recently purchased a CI from him but it was not a formal upgrade option.

It's always a tough call when you are in the market like this. Part of the problem is that you are dealing with much less than full information. You don't know when HDMI 1.3 is going to be necessary/useful, you don't know how much improvement there will be with the Gennum II. Regardless of what manufactuers or others say, you don't really know when the rumored product will really hit the market. In the case of outboard VPs the rumors were off by at least a year (at least in the case of the CII and Dragonfly).

The most knowledgeable person I've seen ruminate on it was Madshi
Thanks... :o

To my best knowledge the Gennum GF9450 chip (the "Gennum II" used by the Lumagen Radiance) is not pin compatible to the GF9351 chip (the "Gennum I" chip used by the CII). So while an upgrade is not impossible it surely sounds difficult. My guess is that PixelMagic would have to swap the mainboard if they wanted to update the Gennum chip. Please note that I'm only guessing here.

The advantages of HDMI 1.3 over HDMI 1.2 are probably rather small. I wouldn't worry about that too much, although having HDMI 1.3 would surely be "nice". The GF9450 adds some useful features over the GF9351, though. E.g. the GF9450 can do compression noise reduction in both SD and HD, while the GF9351 can't do compression noise reduction at all.

The advantages of HDMI 1.3 over HDMI 1.2 are probably rather small. I wouldn't worry about that too much, although having HDMI 1.3 would surely be "nice". The GF9450 adds some useful features over the GF9351, though. E.g. the GF9450 can do compression noise reduction in both SD and HD, while the GF9351 can't do compression noise reduction at all.

Hey Madshi,
Do you have any idea how the NR of the GF9450 might compare to what a Mosquito does?